


Project Pupa

by UnderZeWeather



Series: AU Jam [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, Cannibalistic Thoughts, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Horror, Human Experimentation, Lance has CIPA, M/M, Pheromones, Physical Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:20:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 67,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26106343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderZeWeather/pseuds/UnderZeWeather
Summary: For as long as Lance has been alive he hasn't been able to feel pain. CIPA. But that won't let the highschooler down. He's a senior. He has things he wants to do, hell, he needs to do before he graduates. Things like finding the best spot to ask the school queen, Allura, out. He's picked out the perfect spot in their sleepy little town, and running through the lines in his head. Nothing can go wrong...That is until Lance smells something so sickeningly sweet is makes his mind go numb and blindly follows it...
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: AU Jam [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893274
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	1. Honey scented

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in Strawberry and Blueberry Jam under Monster AU. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

_It would have been nice if everything was just a dream._

The cold sound of buzzing and beeping filled the room as the scientists watched over their experiment. It had become lethargic over the past few days and didn’t seem to want to do anything other than sleep. The scientists were considering enacting the final test but only when they themselves weren’t the ones on duty. No one wanted to be the ones on duty when that happened. Even when the life insurance payout was good.

This experiment had taken close to fifty years. Yeah, it was long term, but it had been so worth it. They got a lot of very vital data from their experiment. They had been able to advance modern medicine by leaps and bounds with their current experiment. 

Suddenly, the red phone rang.

The scientists shared a concerned, almost panicked look. The red phone didn’t ring unless the director was calling them directly. The braver of the two picked up the phone. “Yes Director?” They asked. “Yes, the experiment is going well. They are… I see…” They suddenly became very, very pale. “Are you sure you want to start? Oh! No, no, no! I’m not being insubordinate at all I… I understand… Thank you for employing us for-” They frowned at the phone and put it back on the receiver.

The other scientist looked like they were going to be sick. “It’s time isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” They stood at the far end of one console while the other did the same on their end. 

Both simultaneously put their keys into their slots and turned them at the same time. An alarm blared as the room containing their experiment started to fill with an opaque gas. The experiment immediately sat up and started freaking out. Once they were violently riled up there was a click and the door to their room opened. The gas slowly dissipated and the experiment was gone.

The scientists nodded at each other and fiddled with the company issued watch. It popped open and they tipped the small white pill hidden inside into their hands. The sounds of screaming and gunfire started to fill the air and it was getting closer. Both scientists looked at each other. They knew what had to be done. They quickly took their own pills and within seconds both were dropping to the ground, dead. It was better to die by cyanide than to die at the maw of their experiment.

The final stages of Project Pupa were about to begin.

***

Lance yawned as he shoved his last bite of toast into his mouth. His sisters pushed him out the door. Just because he was allowed to slack off. Their mother quickly chastised the older girls. “Don’t you dare make him trip or fall over!” She warned. “You know that-”

“We all know mama.” Whined his twin sister, Rachel. “Poor Lancey-Lance needs to be treated with kid gloves.”

“Do not!” Whined Lance.

Veronica, his older sister, rolled her eyes and practically shoved them into the back of her van. “Just get in there you dumbasses. We’ll see you tonight mama!”

Lance sighed as he settled into his seat and looked out the window. His poor mother always worried about him. She couldn’t help it. Hell, everyone had been worried about Lance. He had been born with CIPA (congenital insensitivity to pain and anhydrosis). In other words, Lance was born unable to feel pain. Lance never cried and often got banged up and bruised as a baby and small child. He was tested and he was diagnosed with a form of CIPA. Unlike most others with his condition he could still sweat and sense temperatures, but no pain.

It was like a superpower, but at the same time he hated it. He often bled and didn’t realise he was bleeding until it was pointed out to him by someone else. To help make sure he didn’t do something terrible to himself, like break a bone, he had monthly fistis with the family GP. A nice woman. Dr Honerva Diabazzel. He had another appointment with her at the end of the week.

Veronica dropped her siblings off at school before she drove to work. Rachel ran off to find her friends and Lance quickly did the same. He easily spotted Hunk and Pidge near the bike rack. Pidge seemed to be really animated this morning.

Lance walked over to them and grinned. “Hey guys. What’s up?”

Pidge grinned up at him and adjusted their glasses. “You know that weird government building? The one that’s actually protected my people with fucking guns and shit in the middle of fucking no where? Last night, all sirens, blazing.”

“Really?” Asked Lance. He lived pretty close to the area Pidge was talking about, but Pidge did live a little closer. He didn’t hear anything last night.

Pidge nodded. “Yeah. I’m saying some secret government experiment got loose, and now it’s going to become some freaky cryptid. I want to name them if that’s the case.”

Hunk shook his head. “I’m calling a night drill of some sort.”

“Yeah, you’re wrong.” They grabbed Lance’s arm and happily jumped up and down. “It’s totally a thing right? Maybe an alien? Has to be an alien.”

Lance chuckled and messed up Pidge’s hair. “Yeah, totally an alien… But Hunk is probably right.”

“You are no fun.” She said as she jabbed her finger into his chest. “No imagination at all!”

Hunk shook his head. “Anyway, don’t we have more pressing things to worry about? Like you asking Allura to prom?”

Lance groaned in annoyance. Prom was still so, so far away, but he wanted to plan it out for her. He wanted to make it perfect. Allura was the Queen B of the school. She was perfect. She needed the perfect. More than likely Lotor would ask her out. He was the uncontested King of the school. But he was really preppy and annoying.

“... I bet I could take Lotor in a fight.”

Pidge rolled their eyes. “Yeah, that’s because someone could hit you with a chair and you wouldn’t even know it happened.”

“Well yeah, but you don’t have to say it.”

The group ended up walking into the school and went about their day. It was pretty normal. School life for Lance was pretty average. He got good grades, teachers seemed to like him, and he was overall a friendly guy to everyone. Everyone except James Griffin. 

James had always been an asshole and walked that fine line of being popular and a bully. His old man made a lot of money being the owner of Griffin automotors, the huge autobody shop in their relatively small town. It pretty much made him a celebrity. The only reason he wasn’t the King of the school was because Lotor was just that bit richer, more charismatic, and just generally more likeable… The British accent helped a lot too.

Lance and James had known each other since they were in kindergarten. They started off as friends but things rapidly changed when James found out that Lance had CIPA. He had convinced Lance to do dangerous things, and being a small boy, Lance went along with it. Things came to a head when Lance jumped out of a tree and broke his arm of James’s amusement. After that they didn’t speak to each other anymore and James seemed to make it his life’s mission to make his life hell.

Every other day he’d get hit with something in the hallways between classes. Hunk and Pidge would always freak out and make sure he was okay, but Lance was always fine. It never hurt. It was just an inconvenience to him at this point. He’d gotten pretty good at avoiding most of his bullshit anyway. Plus Hunk and Pidge were always looking out for him so that was good.

Much to Lance’s delight it seemed that James was too busy with other shit to annoy him today, so he had time to think about what he could do to ask Allura out. They were good friends and yeah, Lance did have a little crush on her, but she was so cute and wonderful. Maybe flowers would be nice? But it was a little cliche.

He wanted to make her feel special. Sure a lot of things could happen between now and prom, like she could get a boyfriend. It would suck if she did, but he wanted to give it a go anyway. She was pretty easy going so it probably wouldn’t be a big deal… She was pretty big on hiking and going on walks.

His eyes lit up. He could ask her to go for a walk. The woods around the town were beautiful. He could plot out a nice path up to the lookout point near the water tower. It would be so good. He’d look into it after school today. Until then it was his free period in the library with Hunk.

“Hey Lance.” Said Hunk quietly. “Do you understand the way Miss Lavender worded the question seven?”

Lance looked over the question and frowned. “... I think she hates us.”

“I’m starting to think that too…” Hunk sighed and stared back at the question. “Anyway, you want to come over to my place after school? My aunt is staying with us while her leg heals and she is a master baker.”

Lance frowned. “Huh? What happened to your aunt?”

“Broke her leg on the job. Can’t work as a painter until her leg heals.” Said Hunk. “She made triple chocolate brownies with me yesterday. They are so good.”

“They sound good.” Said Lance happily. “But yeah… Gonna have to put that on hold.”

“Oh? Does your mum need you home or something?”

Lance shook his head. “Nah, I want to see how long it takes to walk to the lookout point.”

“... Allura?”

“You know me too well.”

Hunk rolled his eyes. “Buddy, we all know you like her. Just ask her out. She’ll totally say yes. Even if it’s just for one date. We both know you’ll have an awesome time together.”

Lance shrugged. “Well, I want to make sure that she knows how much she means to me…”

“Lance…”

“I know, I am all stupid and romantic and shit.” He muttered. “I don’t know… She’s like a Disney princess and I want to be her Disney prince. Even if it is just for a dar or something…” Hunk just shook his head and went back to finishing his homework. Lance continued to daydream about asking Allura out.

***

When school ended Lance met up with Rachel and let her know that he was going to be heading to the woods for about an hour to check on something. She just shrugged and told him not to fall in a ditch and break his neck.

Lance rolled his eyes and started the walk towards the park. He’d gone there many times with friends and family, though he did like to go for walks by himself when he could. His mama didn’t like it when he went alone. She was always worried he would do something terrible and get really hurt.

To be fair he did walk through poison ivy once when he was small and got one of the worst blustering, oozing, rashes he’d ever seen. It didn’t hurt him or made him itch. It was just kind of there. His older brother and sisters quickly figured out what was going on and only got small rashes while Lance’s legs and arms were completely destroyed. So she did have some cause for concern.

Lance found it a little annoying. He was an adult now. Eighteen. He was going to graduate soon and then he was going to go to the community college in the next town over. He didn’t have huge dreams, but he wanted to give himself some skills to maybe move out of the town one day. He knew his mama would hate it, but she needed to let him go.

As he walked along the trails in the park he immersed himself in the familiar sights, sounds, and smells. It was nice. It took him twenty minutes of walking before he got to a small hill. On this particular trail if one got to about halfway up it and looked slightly to the right, one could see that weird government building.

Pidge had insisted it was for government experiments. Which was probably true. But even if it was it was probably more of a weapons thing rather than their theory about aliens and mutant experiments. They had one wild imagination. They should write a book.

The path that he was on led closer to the government building. Hell, it was close enough that there were a few warning signs close enough to the path warning people that they might be asked to leave if they got any closer. It was pretty ominous.

Lance shoved his hands into his pockets and thought about how nice it would be when he took llura here. Sure they had walked past here plenty of times, but it would be different. It would be just the two of them. Maybe Lance would be bold enough and hold her hand? But he would ask her out first… Maybe if he was lucky and she liked him enough she would kiss his cheek, or like kiss him?

Lance sighed wistfully. It was a nice thought, but Lance 100% knew that Allura would either go out with him or turn him down. Sure he’d be crushed, but as long as Allura still wanted to be friends he’d be cool with it. Allura was still super sweet… Plus she kind of had her pick of guys anyway...

He quickly shook his head and checked his phone. From the park entrance to where he was standing now it took about forty minutes. It was pretty good. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could do this. The lookout point was about ten minutes away from here. It would be fine.

Lance walked into a denser part of the woods. It was very pretty. Small flickers of light made its way through the leaves, like something out of a fairytale. He closed his eyes and listened out for the birdsong… That wasn’t there. Surprisingly there were absolutely no animal sounds in this dense area of the woods. It was strange… He hadn’t heard any place this quiet out in the middle of nowhere ever.

He continued to walk down the path but he couldn’t help but feel that there was something wrong. Everything just seemed just ever so slightly off. Even the smells of the woods seemed off. The usual scents of earthy decay and animals were replaced with something kind of floral, but not. It was hard to explain, but it made his mind feel foggy.

He wandered towards the smell as he tried to figure out what that smell was. Neausiating, almost sickeningly sweet. It left Lance’s head feeling dizzy and hazy. He slowly walked towards the smell as his vision became unfocused. He felt like it was a dream. Just a dream. That was the best way Lance could describe it. Just that weird feeling like he was underwater. It was… odd.

He slowly blinked a few times as his whole body felt like it was sinking. It was like he was underwater. He was getting pulled down into a dream. Such a strange dream. He felt like he was under some kind of spell. Some weird, stupid, wonderful magic spell. The spell was only broken when he stepped on something squishy at the end of the dense trees. 

Lance paused and looked down at what he had stepped on. He’s stepped on a hand. A chewed up severed hand. He froze in shock and slowly noticed his surroundings; blood, meat, and torn clothes were strewn around the trees like decorations. Right in front of him was a person that was getting ripped apart and eaten by a monster.

The monster was large, had to be at least seven feet tall. Its skin was purple, maybe magenta. It didn’t seem to have any lips, just dozens of teeth as long and thick as steak knives set into its jaw. Its hands were huge and looked more like an eagle’s foot, but with five digits instead of three.

Lance needed to get out of there, but his body still felt heavy like he was in a dream. He took a step back and slipped on an organ. He let out a yelp of surprise as he hit the ground. The sound allerted the monster and they were on him in an instant.

With one hand on Lance’s chest it easily pinned him in place. A low rumbling emitted from its chest as thick globs of opaque drool fell from the monster’s maw. The slits set in its grotesque face twitched slightly as it leaned in to sniff him.

Lance should have been terrified. Dream or not this was horrific. Yet Lance felt oddly calm when he looked into the monster’s great big yellow eyes. Dreams didn’t really make much sense to begin with. It was strange. 

His mind felt foggy as Lance felt himself completely disassociating from his body. He reached up and gently touched the monster’s face. The monster froze and seemed to give him a quizzical look. Like even they didn’t know why Lance was touching him and not running away.

“It’s okay.” Said Lance quietly. “You won’t hurt me.”

The monster’s eyes seemed to light up in understanding. They made a different sound now. It didn’t sound angry or like a warning. It seemed almost happy. The monster sunk its teeth into Lance’s neck and ripped out his trachea, drenching the surroundings with his arterial spray.

 _If only it was all a dream. Just a dream… A dream..._  
.


	2. Delicious

_Your meat is so easily torn apart._   
_Your hot blood is just exploding out._   
_You’re gasping, wheezing, begging for air._   
_Ripping and tearing, bones and muscle are completely destroyed._   
_The smell of iron is enough to make you choke and your consciousness starts to fade and your body becomes nothing more than a lump of meat..._   
_I want to savour your flesh over and over again._   
_Does it hurt?_   
_I went for your throat, so it should be fine._   
_You smell really good… I’m sorry… I wish I could eat you again._   
_You are the most delicious creature I have ever eaten._   
_Please let me eat you again._   
_I need you._

***

It was a surreal experience being eaten alive. Just floating above the horror show as the monster easily carved flesh from bone with their teeth. It was horrific. But Lance couldn’t look away. The monster, with its rippling, underdeveloped skin, continued to eat everything.

As it ate it became difficult to distinguish organs from the surrounding plants. They could have been the same thing at this rate. Intestines became roots. Creeper vines became veins. Everything just melted into a gooey, bloody mess.

In the end his body was no different from the plants. Neither of them could feel pain. They just felt nothing. Hell, they couldn’t even tell what was him and what was plant matter. He was just food. Food for some crazy monster that devoured human flesh. His flesh. More ravenous than a plague of locusts ripping through a wheat field.

The monster looked down at the mess of flesh that hardly looked a body anymore. It tilted its head and made that whimpering sound as it poked Lance’s face. It almost seemed confused that he was dead. It leaned down to lick Lance’s cheek. Instantly Lance could smell that nauseating sweet smell again. It made him dizzy and pulled him out of his dream.

***

Lance’s eyes snapped open as he gasped for breath. He touched his throat, almost surprised yet not very surprised to find that his throat hadn’t been ripped out. He sighed in relief and relaxed into his bed. It was all just a dream. Some kind of horrible, terrible dream.

“Ah, you’re awake now.” 

Lance looked over at a doctor. His doctor. Dr Honerva Diabazzel. He was confused. As he looked around he quickly realised that he was in a hospital room. “What?”

“Please relax.” She said calmly. “Lance you were in a terrible accident. You will be getting a visit from some police officers once I make sure you’re okay.”

“... I was?”

She nodded. “I don’t know what happened, but everyone is still trying to piece back the other two victims.”

“Piece together?” A shiver ran down Lance’s spine as his mind was violently invaded with images of that monster with purple skin and yellow eyes. It stared down at him, drooling as it ripped into his body and ate him alive… But he wasn’t dead, so he was okay? What happened?

“Yes.” She checked his vitals and nodded. “Okay, so you are eighteen right?”

“Yeah?”

“Okay, so you don’t need your parents around when they question you…” They jotted something down on their clipboard and nodded. “Okay. I’m going to let the police in now. They left the room and a few minutes later two men entered the room. A rather gruff looking man who looked like he might have been missing an eye and a man with mousy brown hair wearing glasses.

The one eyed man seemed to be the more senior out of the two. “Good evening, I’m detective Iverson and this is my partner, detective Adam Wright. Now, we have a few questions for you. Do you feel up to answering them?”

“I guess…” Lance didn’t know what they were going to ask him.

“Did you know Lindsy or Harold Sterling?” Asked Adam.

Lance shook his head. “No. Should I?”

“They were the victims.” Said Iverson. “Did you just happen to stumble on the crime scene and faint? Did you see anyone suspicious around the area?”

“I… I found the crime scene.” Said Lance quietly. “I didn’t see the attack… I-I didn’t even think it… It was so surreal. I slipped on something and I hit my head and I… I don’t remember anything after that…” He didn’t want to admit the part about the monster. They’d think he was crazy. Might even assume he did it. Whatever it was.

“Are you sure you didn’t see anything?” Asked Adam. “Maybe you heard something? Like a growl?”

“A growl?”

“Yes.” Adam sighed a little. “This looks like an animal attack. Multiple animals. Extremely unusual for the area, but it is… It was pretty bad. You’re lucky you’re still alive.”

“I… I guess I am.” 

Iverson didn’t seem to believe him but let it go for now. He took a card out of his pocket and handed it to Lance. “Here. If you can remember anything, even if it’s a small detail. It can be very helpful.”

“Okay…” Lance took the card and looked down at it. What he saw couldn’t have possibly been real. He died in that dream. He didn’t… He wasn’t… Lance’s head still felt foggy.

He was discharged pretty quickly and his mother babied him the whole time. He’d seen something he shouldn’t have seen. There was no way she was going to let her baby boy leave the house again for at least a few days. Lance was fine with that. He didn’t feel too good and well, he honestly still felt kind of sick. 

Maybe he saw something too horrific and his mind made up a monster? Sounded logical enough… Kind of… Maybe? Lance wasn’t too sure how mental trauma worked. He shot his friends a quick message that he was still alive and back home. Hunk and Pidge both said that they would come over and make sure he was okay. Lance really appreciated it.

That night he ended up staring at the ceiling in his room. It was too stuffy. He cracked open the window ever so slightly to air out the place. He flopped back onto the bed and tried to sleep. His head was filled with dizzying dreams of meat, plants, bloody meat plants, and a grotesque purple monster with yellow eyes.

He felt like things were worming under his skin like vines and roots as the monster in his dream pulled him apart over and over again. It pressed into his body and pulled him open as bloodied grass and plants poked through his gaping wounds. Some of them even budded into bright red flowers. That dizzy honey smell that consumed him completely.

Lance opened his eyes, it was still dark outside. He checked his phone. It was one in the morning. He groaned and rubbed his eyes. He could still smell that sweet scent that made his stomach turn and his mind go blank.

He stared out into his backyard. His backyard backed off into the woods. The perimeter was just the vegetable garden. Beyond that was the darkness and the nothing and that weird sweet scent. 

Lance blinked slowly and made his way downstairs to the backdoor. He didn’t bother closing the door as he left and walked past the garden and back into the woods. He felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper into a dream.

Suddenly he felt something grab him and hold him up in the air. It was the monster. It had grabbed him with its extremely strong claws and looked like it was going to crush him, but it paused when it had a good look at him. It seemed surprised. It put Lance down and actually sat down while staring at him. It was like it was waiting for him to say something.

Lance just stared back at the creature with equal confusion. “So you are real…” He said quietly. 

The monster chirped back affirmation. They carefully moved a little closer to Lance and reached out to touch him again. Lance didn’t even flinch when the monster’s claw gently rubbed his cheek. The sweet smell invaded his nose and made him go weak in the knees. He held onto the monster’s hand and started breathing heavily.

“You… You’re the one that’s making that smell… Is it a pheromone? Something to draw us closer so you can eat us?” Asked Lance. The monster just tilted their head and chirped some more. “... Are you going to eat me again?”

The monster withdrew their hand and Lance collapsed. All his energy was completely gone. He watched as the monster shuddered and their body started to shrink in on itself. Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly its body seemed to shrink in on itself. Its body shriveled and changed colour. There was a gross snapping and squelching sound as the rippling purple flesh peeled away and got sucked into a body… a human body.

Their skin was pale and their hair was dark. Their eyes shone like amethysts in his head. He had a large gash on his face that looked kind of magenta in the darkness. He was beautiful. This weird monster was beautiful. The monster walked towards him and gently touched his face.

Lance leaned into his hand, his mind still felt foggy and the filter between his brain and his mouth was non existent. “Do you want to eat me again?”

The monster nodded and huffed.

Lance chuckled. “Of course you do… Did you really eat me earlier?”

The monster nodded again.

“Huh… Interesting...” Lance reached out and gently touched the monster’s face. The monster closed their eyes and purred softly. Lance ran his thumb over the monster’s lips. The monster opened his mouth and Lance pressed his thumb flat against his tongue. The monster’s jaw snapped shut, biting off his thumb. There was no pain, only pressure, and then nothing.

Lance pulled back and looked down at his hand. He should have been freaking out, but the pheromones that this monster was creating was keeping Lance extremely calm. The monster seemed to also watch in fascination at his missing digit.

Suddenly there was a dull throbbing in his hand and the two watched in amazement as thin fibres of tendons and blood vessels started to quickly wrap themselves around the steadily growing bone. In about a minute his thumb was back in place on his body. He moved his thumb a few times to see if it was still working. Somehow it was.

Lance almost had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. First he was born unable to feel pain, and now his flesh wouldn’t stop growing back. He was the perfect food for a man eating monster like this thing. He could eat him over and over again.

“Did you do something to me?” Asked Lance. “You had to have… I… This isn’t normal…” The monster ignored him and started to pull at his clothes, trying to push them out of the way. “Stop that. You’re going to mess them up.”

The monster glared up at him. Clearly annoyed that he was told to stop. He stayed hovering over Lance but didn’t touch him. He just glared at him and waited for him to do something. Lance’s foggy mind didn’t seem to make the connection before Lance heard the monster’s stomach growl.

“Right… You’re hungry.” Said Lance quietly. For some reason he thought that it would be a good idea to undress and move his clothes a safe distance away so they wouldn’t get blood all over them. His mama wouldn’t like it if he got his clothes all bloody.

The monster seemed to watch him with curious interest while looking at him like he was a piece of meat. In retrospect, he was. He was a piece of meat for the monster. It reached out to him, welcoming Lance into his embrace.

Lance easily slipped into the monster’s arms and rested his head against their shoulder. The pheromones the monster was creating this close to him made Lance’s mind go completely blank. He felt pressure on his shoulder from where the monster bit into him. It wasn’t as fevered as before. It was slower and more delicate. Maybe he was watching Lance’s body slowly repairing itself as he ate him? He didn’t know. It sounded as good of an explanation as everything else.

Lance almost felt dirty to admit it, but he felt calm and relaxed while this thing slowly ate him. He closed his eyes and was relaxed enough to fall asleep in this monster’s arms. He hummed softly and slowly ran his hand over the monster’s back. He yawned softly and actually drifted off to sleep in his arms.

“I like you.” Said the monster softly before Lance completely fell asleep.

***

“Are you serious Lance? Really?” Hissed Veronica.

Lance groaned a little and sat up. He was back in his pyjamas but he seemed to have fallen asleep in the backyard. “Huh?”

Veronica pulled him to his feet and pushed him back inside. “Get your ass inside and back to bed before mama wakes up and freaks out. You moron.”

“But I-?”

“Inside!”

Lance pouted and walked inside. He immediately went to have a shower. His head still felt heavy and nothing seemed real. It was all just some weird dream. Getting touched and held by some monster as it ate him alive… It was a weird dream, and now that he thought about it, this was probably some gateway to a weird kink… Though he wasn’t particularly aroused by the thought of getting eaten alive.

He sighed and undressed himself. He carefully looked at himself in the mirror. He couldn’t see any bite marks or scratches. He didn’t know what was happening. It all seemed real but at the same time it felt like a lucid dream. When he saw Dr Honerva later that week for a check up he’d talk to her about this stuff.

He got into the shower and washed himself. He couldn’t stop thinking about that monster. They were… Okay, they were pretty cute when they looked human. When they looked like a monster that were pretty messed up, but had a certain charm to their appearance. They did have pretty eyes and nice hair...

Lance shook his head and he scrubbed some shampoo into his hair. It could have just been a crazy dream. It’s always a crazy dream. There were no monsters and he wasn’t getting eaten by any weird monsters. He was fine… Really… He really was… yeah… It was all just some weird, weird, dream… 

He shuddered a little and shook his head. He didn’t like this. It felt like his mind was trying to protect himself from something much more horrific. It was really fucked up. He wanted this weird horror show to be over with already.

***

In the woods there were a few cabins. Most of them have been abandoned now and left to rot. The monster had found one such cabin and decided to declare it as their home. There was a hole in the ceiling, but he didn’t mind. There were a few tools around that he could use to fix it. He just wanted to spend some time feeding and getting comfortable first.

He was intrigued by that strange human. He had eaten him before, there was no doubt about it and their meat was delicious. All humans tasted good to him. He couldn’t understand why, but they did. Their meat was just flavoured perfectly. It was light and buttery and usually marbled perfectly. 

But that particular human was something different. Not only was their meat delicious they were so submissive. They practically asked to be eaten. They didn’t cry out and scream for help. They just let him eat. They even fell asleep in his arms. No one had ever done that before. Everyone screamed and cried out for help. But not them. They let him satiate his need for human flesh. 

If he looked for them again would they let him feed? He hoped so. He liked them. He liked them a lot. The monster was only feeding on them because they needed to eat human flesh to live. They weren’t doing it out of malice or because they didn’t like humans. They just needed to eat and if they could do it by feeding off someone who so willingly gave them what they wanted, who were they to turn them down?

The monster brushed some leaves off an old looking trunk and opened it. Inside were some clothes and a blanket. They wrapped the fabric around themselves and flopped onto the old mattress. It smelled stale, but it was possibly the most comfortable thing he had ever slept on. He looked down at his claws and noticed there was still some dried blood under his nails from that man last night.

“...” He sniffed his claws a few times before he gingerly ran his tongue over the dried spots. It didn’t taste as good as it did when it was fresh but he would take it for now. “I like you…” He said quietly. “I like you… I like you… I like you… I like you…”


	3. Cravings

Later that day after school Hunk and Pidge came over to visit him. They were both worried about what happened to him. Apparently Rachel had told them that Lance might not be coming in for a few days because of the murder. They thought that Lance had gotten hurt. Both were relieved to find out that he was fine physically.

“So did you see anything?” Asked Pidge.

Hunk glared at Pidge and lightly punched their arm. “You can’t just ask that.”

“It’s a valid question!”

Lance laughed a little. “It’s okay Hunk. Yeah, I kind of saw a lot… And I think I saw something that really messed with my mind… That or I really hit my head hard when I fell over. Probably hit my head hard. I’m going to talk to my doctor about it when I see her on Thursday.”

“... What did you see?” Asked Pidge. Always the nosey friend.

“Ah, some big purple monster thing that eats people, that kind of ate me?” Admitted Lance. “Yeah… I hit my head pretty hard.”

“Yeah, sounds like something you should see a doctor about.” Said Hunk. “Sounds like you might have some kind of head trauma. Want some brownies?” He held up a box.

“Yes please.” Lance happily took the box and ate one. “… What’s everyone at school been saying?”

“All Rachel’s said is that you were in an accident.” Said Pidge. “So like everyone thinks you got hit by a bus. She told us you found a crime scene…”

“Yeah… It was pretty messed up.”

Hunk put his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “We’re both here for you… If you need to talk or need a distraction we’re here.”

“Thanks big guy… I’d like a distraction if that’s okay?”

Pidge clapped their hands. “Okay! So back to the siren thing. We got some stupid letters letting everyone know that it was just a drill.”

“So Hunk was right?” Asked Lance.

“In theory, yes.” Said Pidge. “However…”

Hunk shook his head. “Here it comes…”

“It’s all a cover up!” Said Pidge. “It has to be. What other explanation is there?”

“You’ve read too many conspiracy books.” Said Hunk.

Lance laughed. “Oh, by the way when I talked to some detectives they said it looked like an animal attack. So like, don’t go into the woods for a while. There might be something that-”

“Totally an experiment that got loose.” Said Pidge. “I’m calling it!” The two boys both whacked them with a pillow.

***

Shiro couldn’t help but shake his head. The aftermath of the experiment for Project Pupa escaping had been catastrophic. All personnel on floor B2 had been slaughtered. Every last scientist on the floor had been ripped apart. The same with security. In most cases they weren’t even eaten. Just torn apart. Shiro knew that they hated humans, but to this extent?

He was completely drowning in paperwork. He was pouring over hours and hours of footage and documents to see how they could have possibly escaped. Their room was meant to be airtight and inescapable. This was making his head hurt. At least he didn’t have to organise the life insurance for everyone that died.

The door to his office opened and Shiro looked up at his Boss and project lead. Sendak. “Have you figured out what went wrong yet?” Growled the older man.

Shiro shook his head. “There’s too much stuff to go through. I’ve been trying to piece together a timeline of events but it-”

“Two civilians are dead.”

“What?” This was news to Shiro.

“They happened upon two people on a hiking trail and ate them.”

Shiro sunk into his seat. He couldn’t help but feel guilty. He knew this wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t on that night. But still, he was pretty much second in command when it came to the project. Something as major as this going wrong was on his shoulders. “I… I didn’t… I didn’t know…”

“There was also a third victim.” Said Sendak. “But they managed to somehow escape completely unharmed.”

“... How is that even possible?”

Sendak shrugged. “You’re one one that’s supposed to know how that thing thinks. You figure that out.” He went to leave before he paused. “If they start eating more people it’s going to be your ass on the line and not mine. You’re the one that said you would take responsibility for him.” 

“... I know.” When Sendak left the room Shiro looked up his files again. It was depressing to look at. Truth be told, Shiro still hadn’t been given full access to all the files. He was just given the bare minimum even though he was second in command at this point. Lots of people assumed that he was the one in charge of Project Pupa. Shiro hated that idea. If he had his way Project Pupa would have been terminated years ago. 

The only reason he didn’t insist on it meant the swift and immediate eradication of the test subject. Over the years Shiro had grown quite fond of the man eater. He wasn’t the mindless monster that everyone treated him as. He was… He just didn’t know any better. He read over the file and sighed.

**Name;**   
_K-P1/K-P2_

**Age;**   
_20_

**Sex;**   
_Male_

**Basic description (K-P1);**   
_Subject appears to be a young Asian male of Korean descent due to DNA from the female host (see personnel file K.Kogane/Reproduction protocol). Their complexion is very pale due to containment procedures. Their hair is black which they prefer to keep long. Attempting to cut K-P1’s hair has proven to be dangerous as K-P1 becomes extremely violent when confronted with scissors or anything they perceive as a threat. Their eye colour appears grey but is actually a dark purple. K-P1 may look human but can only ingest meat. Any meat is fine, but it prefers live pork._

**Basic description (K-P2);**   
_Subject appears to be both bipedal and quadrupedal depending on the situation. Their skin is a dark magenta in colour. They almost appear lizard-like although their skin almost appears to be translucent and fragile. Their eyes are bright yellow and glow in the dark like a cat or some other nocturnal animal. It has no lips but has dozens of sharp bones set in their jaw capable of sheering flesh from bones. Bones from bone marrow. They are strictly carnivorous preferring pork, and if they can get it, human._

The rest of the file had been redacted. Shiro didn’t even have the clearance to read the other files even if it was relevant to his problem at hand. He needed approval from Sendak to read those files, but he knew he probably wouldn’t get it. He liked to keep his subordinates on a suffocatingly tight leash.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He was annoyed and frustrated with everything going on. Was it bad that out of everything that he should be upset about he was upset that they didn’t bother saying that K-P1/K-P2’s name is Keith?

***

Keith woke up in the afternoon and yawned loudly. He huffed a little and rubbed his face with the back of his hand a few times as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He smiled a little to himself, happy to be here in a dingy cabin and not there in that place. He wasn’t hungry, but he was a little thirsty. He needed to get water.

He got up and looked down at himself. He was still naked and he probably needed to wear clothes if he was going to venture out more. He looked through the trunk where he found the blanket and pulled out some clothes. Jeans and a loose shirt. The boots were a little tight but he could deal with it.

Keith exited the cabin and started to wander around the woods. Outside was nice. He liked it a lot more than he did staying inside. Eventually he found a small stream and crouched down to drink from it. 

He sat by the edge of the water and poked at the mud with a stick. He thought back to the weird human he had met. They had the best tasting meat he had ever eaten, and it grew back quickly too. The human didn’t scream or cry either. He seemed content enough to let him eat as much as he wanted. It was nice. Keith didn’t take pleasure in killing things. It was just what he needed to do.

He wanted to see them again. Keith wanted to find that human and sink his teeth into his flesh. It was so soft and tasty. His bones were good too. Just the right amount of crunch. He got up and sniffed the air. It was difficult to tell where they were. But he kind of knew where they stayed since he had dropped them off in the area they assumed they lived after redressing them.

He wandered towards the direction of the town and couldn’t help salivating. He could smell humans. So many humans. Humans that are young and old. Their sweet, sweet flesh just getting ready and ripe to get eaten. He could feel his other self just itching to get out and feast.

Thankfully Keith was smart enough to suppress that part of himself. He wasn’t going to eat just anyone. He was going to eat that one person that could heal fast enough. If he could just get his hands on them then he could eat them as much as he wanted and he wouldn’t draw attention to himself.

“... I’ll find you.” Muttered Keith. “Just wait for me… I’ll find you…”

He walked down the mainstreet of the town and looked around at all the things there. It was… a lot. He saw more humans than he thought could possibly inhabit once space. All of them looked so delicious. Especially the young ones. They smelled sweet. If he could just grab one and rip their faces off he would. They smelled so good it was making him dizzy.

He walked faster down the road and shoved his hands into his pockets. He dug his claws into his palms and started to bite at his own lips. Maybe this was a bad idea. Too many people. Too overwhelming. It was like he was starving and someone was pressing freshly killed meat into his mouth. It was maddening.

_Eat them. Eat them. Eat them._

Keith ground his teeth as he felt sharp points catching together and cut his gums. This was a bad idea. He needed to leave. He needed to get out of there. He was going to blow his cover if he gave into his hunger right now.

_Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them._

Keith took the quickest path back to the woods. He didn’t want to be there. He couldn’t be there. If he gave into his hunger and let it burst out of him now, then he would be in danger. He’d be forced to go back, and he didn’t want to go back. Keith didn’t stop moving until he could no longer smell the flesh of the humans he craved so badly.

He crouched by a tree and quietly sniffled. He wanted to eat so badly but he couldn’t draw attention to himself by eating humans. Humans had a tendency to retaliate when one of their own was devoured. He swore they had some kind of subconscious hive mind. But he needed to eat.

The wind suddenly changed and a disgusting, yet familiar smell filled his nose. Keith frowned and followed that gross smell, all the way to a pig farm. He was smelling pig shit. It was disgusting, but he knew that where there was shit, there was life, and where there was life there was food.

He could see pigs walking around in their pen. Their pink flesh was just so damn tantalizing. He couldn’t stop the drool from gushing out of his mouth as he slowly started to lick his lips. His stomach was growling like crazy and he couldn’t contain himself.

_Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them. Eat them._

Keith could feel the monster inside him bursting out of his skin and peeling off his human casing. He’d eat these pigs and find that strange human later. He needed to eat now. He needed it. He was starving. The air quickly filled with the squeals of pigs getting slaughtered.


	4. Questions

Lance’s skin felt weird. Weirder than usual. It felt like he had goosebumps all the time. At least he didn’t smell that sickly sweet scent any more or dream about getting eaten by a purple monster, or a cute boy with hauntingly beautiful eyes… Curious eyes that seemed just as fascinated by Lance’s regeneration as he did. Eating him alive wasn’t malicious. It was just nature.

“Lance McClain?” Called a doctor.

Lance quickly got out of the waiting room and walked into Honerva’s office. He made himself comfortable in a chair while his doctor went over her notes on her computer. When she was done, she smiled kindly at him.

“Now I know you have had a stressful week, but how are you?”

Lance shrugged. “I guess I can’t really complain that much? I mean… I am alive...”

“True, but I would strongly recommend seeing a therapist. You could be experiencing PTSD.”

“I guess…” Lance looked down at his lap and picked at a loose thread. “Um… I don’t know if this is a thing I need to see a therapist about but…”

Honerva raised an eyebrow. “But?”

“... When I went home I kind of smelled something weird and it kind of… This is going to sound really weird…”

Honerva smiled softly at him. “Lance, please don’t feel worried or scared to tell me what is going on with you. I can’t tell you the number of times my patients have neglected to tell me something and then the problem became much worse because of it.”

“... When I smell something really, really sweet I get really dizzy and light headed.” Muttered Lance. “It just… It smells so sickly sweet. Sweeter than honey. It’s like all the sweetest things combined. It’s nauseating.”

“So this isn’t when you smell sweet food, it’s when you smell a certain sweet thing?”

“Yeah… I um… I’m not sure what the sweet thing is though.” Said Lance. “I think I’m hallucinating or passing out. When I get overwhelmed by that smell I imagine a monster.”

“... Can you describe this monster?” Asked Honerva curiously. 

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” Said Honerva calmly. “Some people that suffer certain illnesses can share similar kinds of dreams and or symptoms. For example, some people that suffer chronic insomnia can see shadow people in the corner of their vision.”

“Um… It’s a monster.” He said. “This big tall purple monster with dozens of knife-like teeth and bright yellow eyes. Then it changed into a man. Maybe Asian? They looked like they might have been Asian…”

“... And this was all after the incident?”

“Yeah… I um… I’m worried I hit my head. Can you please check my head or maybe recommend I get an X-ray or a scan? My head might be… I might have a brain injury.”

“Of course.” Said Honerva in her kind, motherly voice. “Now, when you went to the hospital earlier this week they did read your file and noted you have CIPA and they went above and beyond to make sure you were okay… But I can check you again. Also, you’re due for another blood test.”

“Okay.” After that Honerva continued with Lance’s physical and deemed him to be major injury free, wrote him a referral to get an X-Ray and an MRI. He was then sent to pathology, had his blood drawn, and we sent on his merry way until the next time. He was going to meet up with Veronica at the little cafe across the street.

He sighed a little and walked across the street. Veronica was already there with a drink and sandwich already ordered and waiting for him. He sat across from her and smiled sheepishly at her. She glanced up at him from her phone before looking back at it.

“So, how did it go? Still alive and well?”

“I um… I got told to get an X-ray and an MRI.”

“What? Why?”

“I might have hit my head a little harder than I thought I did…”

“Oh… Well, let me tell mama about it.” She said quickly. “You know how she will get when you tell her.”

“I know…” Lance sighed and ate his food and drank his drink. Mama would flip out if she thought Lance was really hurt. That would be the worst. She would coddle him and ask him to take more time off school. Taking the rest of the week off was hard enough when he needed to be in class to take notes to keep his damn grades up. At least Hunk and Pidge were more than happy to get notes for him.

“-and they were all killed.” Said a woman sitting at the next table. One of the more gossipy women around town and her equally gossipy friend. “All twenty prized hogs.”

“No! Really?”

“Yep. Every last one of them. Poor Darren said it was a massacre. His whole livelihood is destroyed. It’s awful. First the Lithwhicks are killed on their afternoon walk, and now this?”

Veronica lightly nudged Keith’s leg with her foot. “Ready to get going?” She asked.

Lance nodded. “Yeah… Let’s do that.”

When they got home Lance slipped upstairs while Veronica talked with their mama about Lance’s appointments. He was glad she was doing it. Lance hid up in his room and kept glancing out the window to the woods. He hadn’t opened his window since he came home and had that dream.

He shuddered at the thought. He couldn’t get the grotesque images out of his mind. It just took so much from him and then took more. It didn’t stop taking and wouldn’t stop taking until there was nothing left. It just wouldn’t stop… But at the same time Lance couldn’t help but be fascinated but it all. 

He couldn’t feel pain so getting eaten didn’t hurt. It wouldn’t hurt. It couldn’t hurt… And lord knows it was the most disgustingly intimate he had ever been with anyone ever… There was probably a kink for that… and it was probably some subset of vore. Lance groaned in annoyance. If this was really some sexual awakening he didn’t like it. He was having a hard enough time accepting that he was bisexual without thinking thinking vore was hot. Damn it… But maybe he liked the gore factor? Was gorephilia a thing? These were not questions Lance wanted to ask himself or try to find the answer to.

***

Keith yawned a little and stretched himself out in the middle of an open field of flowers. He liked sleeping in the sun. It was warm and it felt nice against his skin. He couldn’t see, hear, or smell any humans. It was… it was different. He didn’t mind though. He wasn’t resting in the field as a human. He was in his monster form. It just felt more natural to him. He felt safer this way when he slept.

He felt something flutter and land against his skin. He opened an eye and looked down at his hand. On his hand was an insect. It had large wings like a bird that were covered in colours. It was pretty. He very slowly moved his hand closer to his face to see what this thing was.

The insect fluttered away and Keith watched it go. It was pretty. “...” He remembered looking at some books when he was younger. He spent hours reading those books. They weren’t very challenging or mentally stimulating for him, but it made him wonder what was outside the four walls of the place he called his home his whole life.

No one would talk to him much outside of one scientist. The kindest human he had ever met. A man called Shiro. He had talked to him constantly and they had formed a bond. It was a strange one, but one that they had formed together. He was the only one Keith liked. It talked to him like he was a real sentient being with his own thoughts and feelings. He wondered what Shiro was doing now.

He suddenly sneezed and smashed his face into the ground. Keith hissed in annoyance and rubbed his face. Maybe he should head back to the cabin? He had been napping all over the place since he had eaten those pigs in place of that human. He had been too scared to return to where the humans lived in case he lost control and devoured everyone he saw.

Keith sighed and sat up. Some flowers were pressed against his skin. He started to pick them off but it was hard with his claws. Maybe that humans would help him. They didn’t seem afraid of him even though they had eaten him a few times.

“...” He huffed in annoyance. He didn’t know if that human would even be useful if they came close to him. They seemed to become placid and, for a lack of a better word, floppy. They seemed very floppy. Probably not good with doing much more besides maybe laying next to him and waiting to get eaten. It might be nice to have someone laying next to him. He liked that idea, but it wasn’t like they would want that. He didn’t think that anyone would willingly want to be around him anyway. No one at that place wanted to be around him for longer then they needed to be.

Keith brushed off as many flowers and grass as he could from his body and started to lazily walk towards his cabin. He’d try looking for that human again in a few days. Hopefully they will come out to the woods so they wouldn’t have to go back into town. Humans were delicious. Too delicious for their own good.

***

“I have some good news for you. Finally.” Said Sendak as he walked over to Shiro in the break room. “Follow me.”

Shiro frowned but took his coffee with him as he followed Sendak into his office. That good news had better have been that they had either found Keith, or he was getting a damn vacation. This incident had taken years off his life, and it hadn’t even been a week yet.

They got into Sendak’s office and the man grinned. “For the moment it seems like K-P1 is relatively subdued. Explains why they haven’t gone on a massive killing spree yet. K-P2 has been suppressed for the moment.”

Shiro was confused, and a little uneasy. “What? Just because there haven’t been any sightings of K-P2 doesn’t mean it won’t appear soon. Even if K-P1 is keeping it together now, if they feel like they are in danger or if they are hungry then it’s only a matter of asking when K-P2 will make an appearance not if.”

Sendak shrugged. “Well yes, and no. You know how Project Pupa has a smaller, sister division? The one responsible for making the EX_773A needed to subjugate a Pupa?”

“Yeah?”

Sendak grinned. “Well, they have been very successful. Way more successful than us. They started human trials almost two decades ago and they have made incredible leaps and bounds and-”

“What do you mean human trials?” Asked Shiro in horror. “EX_773A is only meant to be injected into food before… It’s made from rats!”

“This is all part of the project.” Said Sendak calmly. “That team was working on a fail safe to make sure that if a pupa escaped then they could slow them down enough for us to find them and capture them.”

Shiro was so confused and conflicted about all this. “... This… This is really unethical. I already feel weird about Project Pupa since that’s technically still human experimentation too but… How would they…?”

“The test subjects have been given the nickname; Generators.” Said Sendak. “Use your imagination as to why they are called that. Either way, the Pupa and the Generator have crossed paths and the Pupa has started feeding on them.”

Shiro felt ill. His coffee didn’t seem too appealing anymore. “I need to see the files for EX_773A…”

Sendak shrugged. “You can request for a copy when the lead gets back in from field work. Don’t see why you need to see it though.”

Shiro needed to think fast. “If we’re going to try and catch K-P1 we will need to work with them to make a strong batch of EX_773A so we can take him down without incident. Injuring him could cause K-P2 to emerge. If that happens… He’s gotten so big he will need more than a few darts… I don’t think we could even sedate K-P2 even if we tried without an improved formula.”

“... I guess you’re right. I’ll make note of that. You’re dismissed.”

Shiro nodded and quickly left. This was fucked. This was all fucked. Keith was fucked. Keith wasn’t a bad… Whatever thing he was. Shiro still had no idea what he was meant to be called. He wanted to find Keith soon and bring him back. Not just for his sake and humanities sake, but for whoever was unlucky enough to become his Generator. Whatever that was.


	5. Nibble

_Praying mantis courtship can be a dangerous affair; females have been well-documented biting off the heads and eating other body parts of the males that they mate with. However, like the spider, the frequency of this cannibalistic mating ritual is a tad overstated._

Lance yawned a little as he watched the movie about insect predators in biology. Finally allowed to go back to school and the first class of the day was this. It was kind of boring and made him want to go back to sleep. But he needed to take notes. 

Though he was actually doodling pictures more than taking notes. What else did he need to know? Insects be fucking and eating each other. Not that crazy. That’s just what happened out in the wild. Things ate each other all the time.

_She lures males with her pheromones, and when one approaches, the prospective mate engages in a courtship dance. If the daring male is deemed worthy, he is allowed to hitch a ride on the much larger females’s back and commence fertilization. The she-mantis has been known to voraciously chew off her partner’s head during or after this stage._

He sighed slightly and scribbled some words down. Some other stuff and some diagrams. He wasn’t really listening that much. He kept glancing over at Allura. They didn’t have much of a chance to talk to each other when he got to school, but they shared the same History class after this so they could talk when walking to class.

_Sexual cannibalism among female praying mantis may actually benefit males in an evolutionary sense, according to recent studies. The research suggests that when a male manis is consumed by a female shortly after mating, more of the males biological material is passed onto the female and in turn, a higher number of eggs are laid._

Lance looked down at what he was doodling and it… It was the thing. The monster. Kind of. It was a little weird and not exact, but Lance thought the face was pretty accurate. Maybe he should show this to Honerva? He didn’t know. Maybe it would help.

_Around 80% of male praying mantis escape cannibalism after mating. It is unknown at the moment why this case or what the conditions need to be to stop this sexual cannibalism from taking place._

The bell rang and the teacher turned off the movie. Everyone packed up and headed out. Lance walked over to Allura and smiled at her. “Hey Allura.”

She smiled at him. “Hello Lance. How are you? Are you okay? You were gone for a week…”

Lance smiled and shrugged. “Nah, I’m all good. You worried about me or something?”

“Of course Lance.” She said. “You’re my friend and I… I was really worried. Pidge said you saw the crime scene…”

“Yeah… I did…”

“... If you need to talk to someone, I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”

He smiled softly at her. Allura was always so kind. Maybe he could ask her to maybe go out and grab something to eat after school? That could work. “Hey Allura? I was wondering if you might like to-” Lance was suddenly shoved into a locker.

“Coming through!”

“James!” Snapped Allura. “Watch where you’re going!”

“Why? It’s not like it hurts him.” Retorted James as he walked by with a smug smirk on his face.

“Jerk.” Hissed Allura before she quickly turned her attention back to Lance. “Are you okay?”

Lance shrugged. “I’m okay Allura. You know that kind of stuff doesn’t hurt me. You know that… We should probably get to class now.”

“Yeah. We probably should.” They started to walk to class and Allura caught him up on some of the stuff she had gotten up to. “-and I think Lotor might ask me out.”

“... Lotor likes you?”

“Well I think he does.” Said Allura. “He’s been giving me some signs… So I think he does.”

“Oh… Well, as long as he isn’t a douchebag and makes you happy.”

She laughed a little. “He hasn’t asked me out yet Lance. Though I think he might soon… Hopefully soon.”

And just like that Lance’s heart was crushed. “Oh… Well I hope things turn out well for you guys. Seems like a nice enough guy.”

“I think so too.”

They went to History class and Lance continued to feel pretty bummed out. Allura obviously liked Lotor and Lotor liked Allura. The King and Queen of the school getting together would be the talk of the school. It was… depressing. But she was happy so he couldn’t complain. Allura was happy and he had missed his shot. He’d get over it eventually. But damn he had been crushing on her for a while.

His negative attitude seems to carry on through to lunch. Hunk and Pidge noticed that something was clearly wrong with him, but weren’t too sure how to bring up anything. Well, Hunk wasn’t. But Pidge wasn’t.

“What’s up with you?” She asked. “You still suffering from mental stuff or what?”

Lance sighed and glanced over at Allura and Lotor from across the cafeteria. “Since when did those two get so close?”

Pidge looked over at them. “Hmm? Those two? I think Thursday last week?”

“Sorry Buddy…” Said Hunk.

Lance shrugged. “It’s fine… You know, they say bad luck comes in threes so like; walking in on a crime scene, my crush is going out with someone else… and something else. One more bad thing has to happen to me now.”

“Fail a test?” Suggested Pidge.

“Stub your toe?” Suggested Hunk.

“I wouldn’t feel that.” Said Lance. He sighed and stood up. “Well, I’m going to go and take a piss. Later.”

He headed off towards the bathroom, but headed outside instead. He needed a moment to himself. He was… He was upset. He liked Allura a lot. It didn’t matter how much he said to himself that he didn’t care because he did. He’d been crushing on her since forever. 

When he got outside he walked towards the sports field, specifically the bleachers. He just wanted to be alone for a little bit. Allura is beautiful and deserves the world… He was just going to have to suck this up and keep going. Like always… He felt sick. Kind of nauseous. Did someone dump some soda under the bleachers? It smelled… sweet...

***

Keith had been trying to get used to getting close to humans all for the sake of trying to find that one human he could keep eating over and over again. It was kind of working. He was still so hungry around them, but he’d stopped drooling and it was easier to keep his human form around them now but… It was tough.

He started by walking around the places close to the woods where lots of small children would gather with their mothers to play. It could have been so easy to just shove one of them into his mouth. It would be so easy. So damn easy. But he was good. He stayed away from them. Didn’t eat them no matter how much his stomach was rumbling and begging for it.

Eventually he became bolder and bolder. He ended up hiding around the treeline at a strange building that seemed to have a large mass of children at it. It absolutely reeked. Smelled worse than dirty bed sheets, but there was something else kind of cutting through the smell. It was familiar. Something he liked.

He watched as a human walked out of the building and hid under some of the weird step things close to him. His eyes lit up when he saw that it was him. The human he wanted. He wanted to run out and jump on to him. Sink his teeth into his flesh and eat him up but he didn’t. There was something off with him. The way he walked, the way he looked… It was off.

Keith carefully jumped over the small chain link fence that separated the woods from this weird child building and walked over to where they were. The closer Keith got the easier it was for him to identify what was so strange about them. They smelled distressed. It wasn’t a physical distress thing, but an emotional thing. Something he usually smelled on Shiro.

He looked under the step things and saw that the human was just standing there. Just a few feet away with his hands over his face. He was breathing heavily and looked like he was shaking. This was… This was wrong. Keith didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all. But he wasn’t the best at human interaction. Most of his human interaction was kept at arm’s length.

He very carefully walked over to him. “H-hello?”

The boy jumped back in shock as his eyes went wide. “Holy shit! You! Oh fuck you’re real? What the fuck? Oh my god! What the hell? Fuck!”

Keith was a little confused by their outburst. They had seen each other a few times already. “Are you okay?” He asked. “You um… You seem sad…”

“Stay away from me…” They started to back up and that scared Keith.

“Wait! Don’t go!” Said Keith quickly. “Please don’t run from me… I need you… Please…” He reached out and grabbed them, quickly pulled them close. They fitted perfectly against him.

They stilled in his grasp and almost seemed to relax against him. It was nice. It felt good to him. The human held his arm and seemed to shudder a little. “Why me?” He whispered. “Why are you… How are you doing this to me?”

“How am I doing what?”

“... You’re making me dizzy and tired.” Said the human quietly. “I can’t… I can’t think straight…”

“I don’t know… I… I don’t interact with humans. I don’t know what you think is normal.” Keith tightened his grip on the human just a little more and nuzzled his neck. The distressed scent this human was making was still there, but less now. He wanted them to be like the other night. Calm and willing. He smelled really, really good when he was like that. “I just… I know I want you.”

“You want to eat me.”

“... Yes.” He wanted to eat them. He wanted to eat this human right here and now, but he also wanted to make sure they were okay. Confusing and conflicting emotions. His stomach started to growl. As he felt his hunger increase, he felt the human become more and more relaxed in his arms. He could just dig into him. Rip him the fuck apart. But as much as he wanted to, he felt like he should get permission or something since this human wasn’t going to die.

“... Don’t get blood on my clothes.” He said quietly. “Just… People will worry about me if there is blood.”

“Thank you.” Keith loosened his grip a little and the human fell to the ground. Keith grabbed hold of him before he hit the ground. “Easy there. Don’t hurt yourself.” Yeah, he saw the irony of telling him not to hurt himself when he was about to eat him.

The human laughed a little. “It’s fine. Really.”

“Why? Doesn’t it hurt? Most people would probably scream and cry.”

“I have CIPA… I can’t feel pain. Never have. Never will.” He took his shirt off and held his arm out for him. “Here. Just eat this. I have to get to class soon.”

“Okay…” Keith sunk his teeth into his arm. It tasted good. So fucking good. This person’s flesh tasted amazing. He wanted more. So much more than this. But he was cautious. He didn’t know how much he should be taking from this human. He just couldn’t get blood on his clothes. That’s what he asked. He’d respect that.

A bell suddenly sounded and made Keith jump. He looked around in a panic while the human just hummed and looked down at the chunks taken out of his arm. Muscle fibers were already twisting freely as they forcibly grabbed and connected together again. It was less than a minute before his flesh had healed. Keith was still confused by this feature of this human but was thankful.

The human took some tissues out of their pocket and wiped the blood off his arm. “I have to get back to class… Are you still hungry? I can still smell that pheromone or whatever you’re making…”

“Yeah, I am… But you need to go to… to class?”

“Yeah. I do… Lance.”

“Hmm?” 

“My name is Lance.”

“... Keith. Would you… Would you be willing to meet up later? I still need to eat...”

Lance seemed a little hesitant. “If you don’t eat me, are you going to eat other people?”

Keith shrugged. “I probably will… I need to eat. I need meat. A lot of meat… If I’m not eating people I’m going to be eating pigs. I can eat other meat but other meat doesn’t sit right…”

“... Do you know where the water tower is?”

“The what?”

“The big round metal thing on stilts.”

“Oh yeah. That thing… I know where that is.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay… I guess I’ll see you soon Lance?”

Lance smiled kind of awkwardly. “Y-yeah. See you soon Keith.” He quickly ran off towards the building as a second bell went off. Keith watched him run off and sighed. He saw a few tissues on the ground that Lance failed to stuff in his pocket. They still had blood on it. Fresh blood. He hopped the fence back to the woods.

He was going to head to the water tower and wait for him… But he needed to clean his cabin. If Lance was willing to go with him there that is. He still wasn’t too sure how humans worked out of that place so he should probably be a little cautious… He still wanted to clean up his cabin a bit more before he brought Lance there.

***

Lance was late to his English class and got a bit of a talking to from the teacher before he headed to his seat. He ended up just staring at his copy of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. The disturbing image of a cockroach combined with a human skeleton stared at him.

He just… He was 100% sure that Keith was using pheromones on him. When he grabbed him everything just became so much more intense. They when he heard his stomach growl a fresh wave of pheromones washed over him. They weren’t as intense as before when he was truly starving...

And now Lance offered himself up to get fed on by this thing that was called Keith. A freaking man eating monster called Keith. What the actual fuck was Lance doing with his life? Also, Keith? Who the fuck named a monster Keith? Was he always a monster? Was he human first? He… He didn’t know.

He looked down at his arm where Keith had bitten him many times just minutes before. His skin never looked like it had been ripped apart minutes ago. He felt ill. He wasn’t as taken by those pheromones and now he… He… The feeling of getting ripped apart like that he just… It was hard to explain his feelings or what he was thinking. He was having a hard time justifying his own feelings and emotions but he didn’t mind getting eaten.

Yeah, this line of thinking was probably going down some really dark, twisted, perverse territory, but he honestly didn’t know what he should be feeling. He wasn’t scared because it didn’t hurt and his body quickly grew back… And the damn monster said he needed him. He needed Lance for something. It was kind of nice to feel somewhat wanted after finding out Allura and Lotor had a thing going on. He almost wanted to laugh. Fuck, he was pathetic.


	6. Light Meal

Shiro’s request for more information on EX_773A and other documents pertaining to Project Pupa had been approved rather quickly. It usually would have taken months, but considering the circumstances surrounding everything it probably got forced through. He got a little more information on EX_773A. It seemed to be some kind of antigen. He needed to speak to the lead on the project.

Thankfully she seemed to be there. Shiro went to her office on the third floor and knocked at her door. “Come in!” Called a sing-song voice.

Shiro sighed and walked into the office. Dr Honerva Diabazzel was happily sitting behind her desk typing away at her computer. She looked up at him and nodded slightly. “You would be… Takashi Shirogane, correct?” He nodded. “Yeah, Sendak said that you might be making an appearance sometime soon. Here to pick up the files about EX_773A and the Generators?”

“... Yes? I know that the antigen was developed from a mutation in the plasma but-”

“It’s not just a mutation. It’s evolution.” Corrected Honerva. “Well, kind of. That chemical is a wonderful thing… And to think it came from such a disgusting looking cave fungus.” She pushed a piece of paper over towards Shiro. “Anyway, since you need to capture them it’s best to cut through all the cryptic bullshit at the moment. Here is a list in chronological order of what animals we injected with EX_773A. As you can see we started small with insects, but we quickly moved up to larger animals like rats, dogs, and cats.”

Shiro picked up the paper and read through it. Honerva wasn’t kidding. It seemed like they had been testing on crickets and worms before moving onto rats. Mammals seemed to be more receptive to it and could produce a small amount of it if injected when they were young enough. There were signs that some of them could regenerate their flesh. It was promising, but since they needed to feed this flesh to the monster it needed to have more meat on it.

Eventually from what he could conclude at a glance only a large mammal would work. The last animal on their list of things they tested on was a human baby. Male. Seeing that made Shiro feel sick.

“Is there a reason why you decided to infect a male infant with EX_773A?”

Honerva chuckled. “It’s actually a failsafe. Once we figured out that Pupa was binary, like most vertebra animals known to man, it was decided we would be selecting candidates for EX_773A testing accordingly when we got to human subjects. Male Pupa’s with male EX_773A Generators, and female Pupa’s with female EX_773A Generators. It was simply a matter of biology.”

“How so?” Asked Shiro.

“A Generator’s healing factor is accelerated to an extraordinary degree and we are unsure of how a Pupa would react when they reached their teenage years.” Said Honerva calmly. “Also, a Generator and a Pupa are naturally drawn to each other. Even more so after the first few feedings. Having them as the same sex was meant to help prevent any accidental pregnancies in the event that the Pupa raped the Generator.”

Shiro was uncomfortable with the way they talked about that so casually. “You think that a man can’t rape another man, or a woman another woman?”

“Never said that it wouldn’t happen.” Said Honerva. “Hell, I almost expect it to happen. I’m just saying that this way if a Pupa and Generator are the same sex then we won’t have an unexpected pregnancy. It’s highly unlikely the Pupa could get close enough to a woman or man in a sexually intimate way without eating their lover alive, like a spider or mantis. Only a Generator, with their ability to heal, would be able to survive such a savage encounter.”

“... Hypothetically, what would happen if-”

“If a Generator or Pupa became pregnant?” Asked Honvera in an almost gleeful manner. “I have theorised a few possible outcomes, but if I am to be honest the best case scenario would be the same experience those researchers experienced when they gave up their wombs to grow a Pupa; nausea, bloating, cramps, swollen breasts. All the usual symptoms one would get from pregnancy… Then the unusual symptoms; pork cravings, insomnia, hearing voices, lucid dreaming and various degrees of self mutilation.” They picked up a file off their desk and tossed it at Shiro.

The man caught it and quickly flipped through it. Inside were the files of female personnel. “These are…”

“All the women involved in Project Pupa.” Said Honerva calmly. “Each one was selected for their physical and mental health. While carrying Pupa they were under 24 hour surveillance and reported anything and everything that they went through. It was all vital research.”

Shiro flipped through the file and found the most recent woman. Keith’s mother. Krolia. “... And what did they get out of it? The mothers?”

“Once the Pupa was removed they were given a pay raise, a pay bonus, and were allowed to move to any project they pleased as long as it wasn’t in the same building as Project Pupa. Couldn’t risk any of them suddenly developing motherly instincts and trying to get them out of the facility. They also signed some hefty NDAs before insemination too.”

Shiro frowned a little. He wondered if Keith would force himself on someone else like that? He wanted to believe that he wouldn’t, but in all honesty, Keith was a monster. He didn’t have the same morals as humans. He saw them as food and if he had some kind of sexual awakening then… He could only imagine what Keith was capable of. The animal world was already horrific enough without Keith’s brand of horror adding to it.

“If you need more information you’ll have to talk to the lead of this project.” Said Honerva as she turned her attention back to the computer.

“... That’s not you?”

“Nope. Like you, I’m second in command but everyone thinks I’m in charge. The one running this operation is… Dr. Benita Martinez. But she is on leave at the moment. What a time to take a vacation huh?”

“Yeah…”

***

Lance told his friends he was heading home and told Rachel he was going to hang out with Pidge and Hunk. He didn’t want to lie to them but he didn’t really know what else to tell them. He couldn’t really say he was going to get eaten alive by a monster. But there he was, at the water tower. Waiting for the monster to turn up.

After standing around for a bit the monster seemed to awkwardly walk out from behind the trees. “You came…”

“Yeah, I did.” Said Lance. Though he wasn’t really sure why. Keith wanted to eat him. Keith was going to eat him. Was he going to do that now? Pin him down and eat him under the water tower?

Instead of that Keith lightly took Lance by the wrist and pulled him towards the treeline. Lance just walked along with him, unable to really say or do anything but follow him deep into the woods. He didn’t know what to do. He just followed Keith deeper and deeper into the woods until they came to a cabin.

Keith pushed open the door and lightly pulled Lance inside. The cabin was small but kind of nice. It wasn’t very clean, but it looked like Keith had been trying to keep it clean. He awkwardly sat down on a small wooden stool and Lance sat on a chair. The two of them kind of awkwardly stared at each other. Neither of them seemed to be sure of what to do now that they were in the same room together.

Keith spoke first. “So… Um… are you okay?”

“As okay as I can be.” Said Lance quietly. The air in the cabin was kind of humid and sweet. Keith was hungry. He wanted to eat, but he didn’t seem to know how to go about it. It was strange really. “So… What are you?”

“I don’t know.” Said Keith honestly. “I… I don’t know what I am. I’m just… I’m me. Is monster an animal type? I’ve been called a monster a lot.”

“Monsters aren’t… It isn’t a real animal. It’s like, a thing that’s unnatural. Something that’s alive that shouldn’t exist.” Said Lance as he lightly picked at his nails. “I-I guess I’m a monster too then since I’m now… I…” Lance couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in his eyes. What was he? What was his life? Who was he now?

Suddenly Keith was crouching down in front of him. The monster very awkwardly reached up and patted his head. “Why are you sad?”

“I… I don’t think I’m human anymore.”

“I’ve never been human, so I don’t think I can empathise with you.” Said Keith quietly.

“Yeah… Why are you being so nice to me? Don’t you just want to rip me open?”

“No.”

“... But aren’t you hungry?” Asked Lance. “Isn’t this why I’m here? So you can eat me?” 

“Well yeah, but I’ve never eaten someone like you before.” Said Keith softly. He lightly brushed some hair away from Lance’s face. “You don’t die… I guess I… I’m kind of concerned about you. I like your flesh. It tastes really good. But the fact you can’t feel anything is kind of concerning to me. Everything else I eat is small and can be consumed in a bite or two. You’re different. I um… I don’t want you to be more uncomfortable than you already are.” 

That sweet smell overtook Lance’s nose. Keith was hungry. He needed to eat and the sweet smell of Keith’s pheromones were making Lance placid and submissive. Keith picked Lance up and placed him on the bed. He awkwardly hovered his hands over Lance’s body, like he was unsure what to do with them.

“... Do you want me to take off my shirt again?” Asked Lance.

“Yeah. That would be helpful.” Keith sat back and watched as Lance took off his shirt, tossing it aside before lying down again.

Lance watched as the monster’s eyes slowly raked over him. It was kind of concerning, but Lance figured this was probably the first time that Keith was this close to a human before and allowed to take his time. It felt grossly intimate and kind of made him squirm slightly.

Kieth ran his fingers over Lance’s neck and collarbone. He could sink his claws in and kill him without a second thought. He needed to stop thinking like he could actually get killed by Keith. He’d survived three feedings already. He’d survive a fourth.

“... So you don’t have any survival instinct anymore?” Asked Keith.

“No, I don’t… I don’t think I ever have…” Muttered Lance. “Hard to have a survival instinct when nothing hurts you.”

“I guess…” Keith ran his hands over Lance’s torso lightly touching and squeezing his muscles. He seemed to like his biceps. Made sense. It was probably one of his most muscular parts apart from his legs.

“... Is there any part that you like eating?” Asked Lance. “Like, when you eat animals and stuff what do you eat?”

“Everything.” Said Keith simply. “I usually start at the neck… I have to eat meat but I make it quick. I’m not a fan of making my food suffer.” He put his hand on Lance’s stomach. “Then I slit open the belly. I need to make sure that there is nothing hidden inside.”

“Hidden?”

“Parasites mostly.” Said Keith calmly. “But sometimes bits of plastic and metal. Those make me really sick. Parasites just taste weird to me. I also don’t like the way worms feel when they roll across by tongue and down my throat.”

“You ate things riddled with parasites?” Asked Lance. “That’s gross.”

Keith shrugged. “They wanted to see if I could get infected with parasites. I’m still parasite free after all these years.”

“Who are they?” Asked Lance. “Where did you even come from?”

“...” Keith leaned down and sunk his teeth into Lance’s chest. Clearly this was the end of the conversation. 

Lance just closed his eyes and let Keith eat what he wanted. He ate a lot slower and at a more tame pace. It wasn’t like he was trying to eat him and run. Keith could take his time. Lance hoped it didn’t take too long. He needed to get home soon. He still had homework to do and he didn’t want his family to worry about him.

It could have been hours, could have been minutes, but soon the sweet smelling pheromones dissipated and the room just smelled musty and felt humid. Keith sat back and wiped the blood off of his face. He looked a little dazed and slightly out of it.

“Water…” He muttered. “I need to get water…” Keith left the cabin and Lance slowly sat up to look at himself. He could see himself slowly healing. Keith seemed to only want to eat his chest. Weird, but that was fine. Who was he to tell a man eating monster what to eat? Keith came back into the cabin with a bucket of water. He looked cleaner than he did before. He sat next to Lance and did his best to clean the blood off of him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Muttered Lance. “You didn’t really say what parts you like eating most?” 

Keith shrugged and put his hand on Lance’s thigh, squeezing slightly. “Thigh meat. It has a lot of flavour… Lots of meat. I like it.”

“Then why did you go for my chest?”

“Because I wasn’t that hungry.” He passed Lance his shirt. “... Will you come back when I get hungry again?”

“... Do I have a choice?”

Keith looked a little confused for a moment before he nodded. “Well yeah? Everyone always has a choice… That’s what Shiro used to tell me… S-so you have a choice. I don’t get what I want anyway so I won’t be upset if you leave.” 

Lance couldn’t believe how sad Keith sounded, but then again he didn’t really know much about Keith at all besides he was some weird human eating monster. Was he manipulating him? Like emotionally and stuff? Then again, he didn’t really seem too capable of lying. He seemed pretty honest.

“... Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

Lance nodded. “Maybe… I have mixed feelings about being used as a food source for someone else.”

“Fair enough. I have mixed feelings about eating someone that doesn’t die after I rip out their throat.”

“Yeah… I can see how that might be a little weird.”

“Yeah… At least it doesn’t hurt when I eat you? So I guess that’s something…”

“Yeah…” Lance stood up and made his way towards the door. “Well, I should get home before anyone starts worrying about me… That would be bad.”

“Oh, right.” Keith got up and followed Lance out the door. “Do you know the way back? I can take you back to town if you like?”

“... Yeah. Show me the way back.” Keith nodded and led Lance back towards the town. Lance still couldn’t believe that this might be his life now. He’s become a monster’s food source.

***

A woman sat alone in her room on her third glass of wine for the evening. She was fine. Everything was fine. Nothing was wrong. As long as she had her wine she was fine. She could just drink away the pain. It was good. She was just thankful that she hadn’t fallen into drugs. She could just imagine how fucked up her life would be if she started using heroin or meth.

The woman sighed sadly and looked out the window of her shitty apartment. Sure she had a very large sum of money due to the compensation she received, but she was pissing it away on alcohol. Her stomach growled a little and she instinctively pressed her hand against it. She sat frozen in fear as she steadied her breathing.

She was okay. There was no way she was pregnant. She had a hysterectomy. She was fine. There was nothing growing inside her. Nothing ever would again.

Her phone suddenly went off and she jumped. She hesitantly picked up the phone. “Hello?”

_“Hi, hello. Is this Krolia Kogane?”_

“Depends on who’s asking.”

_“Right. I’m Takashi Shirogane. I work for Diaba-”_

“You have the wrong number.”

 _“Wait! Please! I just need a moment of your time!”_ Said Shiro quickly. _“I need some information. I… I’m working with your son.”_

A chill ran up her spine as her body filled with dread. “You must be mistaken. I don’t have a son.”

 _“... I know this is difficult, but I’m just looking for information.”_ Said Shiro calmly. _“I know you have some idea what Project Pupa is. Your son has escaped. I’m trying to stop him from doing something stupid and-”_

“I don’t have a son!” Snapped Krolia. “I don’t have a son! I don’t have a son! I don’t have a son! Stop calling me!” She ended the call and threw her phone across the room. 

She put a small hole in the wall with it and ran her fingers through her hair. Her nails scraped across her scalp until it hurt. Even then she continued to scrap at her scalp. She didn’t have a son. They didn’t exist. Keith wasn’t real. He wasn’t. He couldn’t be. She couldn’t deal with this. She couldn’t deal with them anymore.


	7. Entrail soup

After the failed talk with Krolia, Shiro was just left with papers, audio tapes, and some videos. It was disturbing to say the least. A lot of information was new to him since he had only just been granted access. From everything he had collected he formulated a basic plan to track and observe Keith. After that they would formulate a proper plan.

He emailed his plan to Sendak and within an hour there was an email sent out to everyone working on project Pupa and the sister project making suppressants to placate the Pupa test subject. Shiro was shocked to learn that there would be a presentation with a contract security force before the end of the day.

Sure he could see the urgency to get this under control as quickly as possible, but things could turn extremely deadly for everyone if things weren’t done perfectly. People from the town could find out. A lot of people could die.

Shiro went to the briefing room with several other scientists, some security personnel and the new contracted security. He sat down in a seat up the front and waited to see what Sendak was going to say.

When everyone was settled in Sendak happily stood in front of them looking much more smug than usual. That was never good. Shiro knew this was going to end with him feeling sick after.

“Glad you could all make it.” Said Sendak. “As you would have seen on the email we have hired some outside help after the little incident we had the other week. Now, the main reason I wanted you all here today is to let you all know we have a handle on the situation and we are going to safely secure and contain the subject.”

“Just one test subject?” Asked one of the new security personnel. “Isn’t it a little much hiering us for this?” Some of the others snickered.

Sendak ignored them. “The test subject, for the dumbasses that know fucking nothing about what we are doing appears to be a twenty year old male of Asian descent. He doesn’t know how to use any tools more advanced than a rock or a tree branch.”

“Then how is he a threat?” Asked more of the security personnel.

Sendak rolled his eyes. “Alright shit for brains. I’m pretty sure you’re the the kind of Einstein that thinks a Death Adder can’t kill you because the fucking snake doesn’t have arms? Maybe you think you’re an immortal that can’t die from something like rabies or cancer because those things can’t hold a fucking gun? If that’s your fucking attitude go and take a cyanide pill and piss off. We don’t need your filth here and we can get another group of mercenaries to help us out. You fuckers are expendable.”

The tension was now high in the room. Shiro could feel it. Sendak was going to get into some kind of fight with them, and then he would have to write a report explaining why Sendak put a bunch of people in the hospital again. He fucking hated paperwork.

Sendak chuckled. “It’s that shitty attitude that can get you killed.” They took a remote out of their pocket and pressed a button. A projection screen started to lower. “Yeah, he might look like one man, but we are fucking serious about this guy being a fucking killer. You might laugh at us when we say you can only shoot him at long range with a dart. No ammunition or anything that will open up his body. So we’re going to show you the reason why you don’t fucking open up K-P1.” 

They hit another button and stepped aside to show their hired guns an old video that Shiro knew all too well. It made him feel sick. He’d seen that video before. He didn’t want to see it again, but he was right up the front and was going to get looks if he suddenly stood up and left.

Shiro read the text in the corner just to clarify that this really was the tape he thought it was; K-P1 Autopsy 1. Yes. It was the tape Shiro dreaded. It was… Disgusting.

After a few seconds an operating theater came into view. There were three doctors in scrubs standing around a table where a small child was secured to a table with strips of metal bolted down to the table.

The doctors muttered amongst themselves before the main doctor cleared their throat and spoke up. _“Alright this is Dr. Albert Berkin. Here assisting me today is Dr. Alice Valentine and Dr Eathan Baker. We’re going to be performing a so-called, “exploratory autopsy” on test subject K-P1.”_ They looked over at one of the doctors and held out their hand. _“Scalpel.”_

Dr Valentine handed them a scalpel and they quickly made a Y incision into their skin. They hummed a little as they did so. _“Subject’s blood appears to be blue-green. Hinting at a lack of hemoglobin. This is strange because their blood usually tends to be a much richer and deeper almost purple colour…”_

 _“I’ll get a sample.”_ Said one of the other doctors as they got a syringe and quickly filled it.

When the sample was collected the doctors pulled pack the flaps of skin. Dr Baker gasped in slight shock.

Dr Berkin chuckled. _“Yes the insides of this Pupa are very similar to that of a real pupa; soft, gooey, and almost nothing special if seen in any other context. You could get a ladle and serve this up as soup and no one would know.”_ They cleared their throat. _“Subject K-P1’s internal organs are a lot more liquid that previous test subject J-P1.”_ They picked up a probe and collected a small bit of their entrails onto it. It stretched out like thick slime. _“Hmm, the consistency is more like a thick mud.”_

If anyone was paying attention to anything other than Dr. Berkin, they probably would have noticed the slight twitching in their subject’s hands and feet. The doctors continued to prod around his insides, talking about how he didn’t seem to have any distinct organs, bones, or circulatory system inside themselves. They theorised how they might function and are still alive even when it didn’t look physically possible.

K-P1 started screaming and trying to pull himself free. But he couldn’t. He was stuck in place while the doctors just looked annoyed. _“Despite giving the test subject enough anesthesia to knock out an elephant the subject’s metabolism is extremely fast. It was only given to him about five minutes before bringing him in here…”_ He sighed a little and glared down at the other doctors. _“Would someone shut that thing up?”_

One of the doctors grabbed a hammer and brought it down hard on Keith’s head. Not once. Not twice. But three times. Each crack of the hammer made Shiro shiver. Eventually his screams pittered out to a small whimper.

 _“Much better.”_ Said Dr Berkin. He sighed and gestured over to some jars on a bench. _“Bring those over and we’ll start really collect his entrails for further analysis.”_

Shiro’s eyes were firmly on the floor by now. He hated how this was going, and he hated knowing what was going to happen next. He didn’t want to see it. He didn’t want to hear it. But he couldn’t leave.

 _“Dr. Berkin? What’s that?”_ Asked Dr. Valentine. They gestured to something in the body with a probe.

Dr. Berkin got his own probe and poked at something inside Keith’s body. He carefully fished it to the surface and twirled it around the probe, pulling it out. It was hard to see what it was on the recording, but the doctor seemed happy enough to describe it.

 _“Subject appears to have some kind of thin, tendril-like muscle covered in small calcified lumps… Some of them look like tiny teeth… Something you would probably find in a small carnivore. Like a shrew? I-”_ Before they could finish their sentence, the tendril lashed out and ripped open Dr. Berkin’s throat.

The next few seconds were thrown into absolute chaos as dozens of more tendrils exploded out of Keith’s body. The camera was knocked over at the visuals cut out, but the audio was still there. There was a lot of screaming. The screaming just wouldn’t stop. It only stopped when Sendak hit the pause button.

“Now it took a while, but eventually we were able to get the visuals up and running again after an hour.” Said Sendak with a sick smirk on his face. “Now this, this is the reason we want you to never, ever cause it any physical injury where you split them open.”

He hit play and fast forwarded until the visuals came back. The camera had been knocked onto a table and the feed flickered a little, but was clear what was in front of them and it was disgusting. Almost all the equipment in the room had been knocked over and smashed. The doctors laid about in various degrees of decapitation and dismemberment. Most of the bodies were covered by a thick layer of greenish-blue organic matter. In the far corner, taking up most of the wall was a growth that looked like a flower bud made of flesh.

Sendak paused the video and used a laser pointer to gesture to the bud and the bodies. “I’d like you all to take note of these particular places as I fast forward over the next few hours at triple speed.”

He hit fast forward and everyone watched as the greenish-blue flesh broke down and absorbed the human bodies. As it did so the flesh started to change to a more red and purple hue. When it made its way to the bud as it violently twitched and swayed as it swelled.

As this grotesque visual happened Sendak continued to talk. “After this ordeal when we went to clean up we found that there were no organic components left in the room. K-P1 absorbed all living matter around them and into this self rejuvenating form we’ve dubbed the Hell Flower. An almost fungus-like organism that breaks down everything and makes it their own. After three hours the Hell Flower finally opened up.”

He fast forwarded to the part where the petals of the Hell Flower peeled open. Right in the center of the flower was Keith, but only his head and torso were visible. Everything else was still melded into the flower. Slowly Keith’s body was getting pushed out of the flower and when about half of him was out, Sendak paused the video again.

“You might want to note that the body of the Hell Flower is starting to decay at the edges as the bodies of its prey are used to regenerate K-P1’s body.” 

He hit fast forward again and stopped it when the small child finally fell out of the flower and the flower crumbled away and decayed into a dehydrated dust. Sendak happily hit pause again. He smirked smugly at his audience.

“That. That insatiable meat eater absorbs anything and everything that’s organic in its wake.” He happily gestured to his audience. “Now, just imagine you fucking morons slash or shoot them in the side. How far do you think their body will erupt and absorb everything? How many of you will it eat? One? Three? All of you? All we did was cut it open and it absorbed three people to fix itself. It was only five when this happened! Three bodies to restore a five year old! When they were returned to their room they slept for a week. Sleeping off their meal.”

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes before Honerva stood up. “Well I think that’s enough when it comes to scaring them. May I speak now?”

“Be my guest.”

Honerva took the remote off of Sendak and hit a button. A more up to date photo of Keith appeared next to a picture of Keith in his monster form. “Now you will want to come across him while K-P1 looks human. His monster form is known as K-P2. K-P1 is dangerous, but K-P2 is a completely different breed. It’s unstoppable in its second form and simply injecting the subject with the serum will not stop it. When in its second form the best way to subdue it would be to inject yourself with the serum and let it eat you. You would die but it would force K-P2 back into K-P1.”

“What does the serum do?” Asked someone in the back.

Honerva smiled. “Glad you asked. The serum will not knock K-P1 out. Just force him into his human form. He’ll be stuck in his human form for several hours and unable to change back. You will then catch them and bring them back. K-P1 only changes into K-P2 for two reasons; they believe they are in danger, or they are hungry.” 

There were a few murmurs among the people talking. Everyone that wasn’t a scientist were talking about how it still seemed impossible for Keith to actually exist. However, Honerva ignored them and continued to talk.

“Now, there is actually someone else you should know about.” She hit a button and showed the group a candid photo of a young man around Keith’s age. Dark brown hair, blue eyes, tanned skin. Possibly hispanic? “This is a Generator. A Generator is an individual given excessive amounts of EX_773A as a child and, as a result, naturally produces EX_773A.”

“So what?” Asked someone. “Shouldn’t we just grab the guy and let the monster eat them while we take them down?”

“Would you let me finish?” Snapped Honerva. “As I was about to explain, a Generator has a few interesting quirks that we’ve only ever been able to see in lab settings but as of now are unknown in the field. For example they rapidly regenerate their own biomass after being bitten by one of these Pupa. An enzyme in the saliva of a Pupa activates and promotes regeneration in a Generator. The enzymes also produce endorphins. This helps form a bond between a Generator and the Pupa. It also helps that injecting an infant with EX_773A soon after birth kills all pain receptors in the body. It gives the illusion of CIPA. This Generator has made contact with K-P1. They have already started to bond.”

“So if we find this Generator we’ll find your monster?”

“In theory. We have only observed the relationships between Pupa and Generators in lab rats.” Said Honerva. “The Generator and Pupa rats would go about their business and normal until the Pupa rat became hungry. After which the Generator rat would lie next to them and let the Pupa feed off of them until they were full. We don’t know if K-P1 will eventually take the Generator hostage but just doesn’t have the means to do so right now since the Generator is still walking freely… Though it would be interesting to see what measures a Pupa will use to keep their food with them… Now, shall we go into detail about the plan?”

***

Lance continued to visit Keith. He’d quickly memorised the way to and from the monster’s cabin and every time he turned up Keith seemed genuinely surprised he had come back. Lance was surprised too. He was just there. It was really, really fucked up.

Either way Lance was there for him and let Keith eat the muscles on his arms and shoulders. Lance was surprised at how delicate Keith was being with him. No matter how many times he told Keith that he couldn’t feel any pain, Keith brushed him off and continued his delicate eating.

During one of these small feeding sessions Lance gently patted Keith’s face to get his attention. “Keith?”

“Hmm?” They pulled back wiping the blood off their mouth. “What is it?”

“... You haven’t been ripping into me like when you did when we first met.”

Keith shrugged. “You’ve been coming here every day so I can eat every day. It’s different from when I was there…” He chuckled a little. “I was a bit of a fussy eater and everyone would get mad at me when I didn’t eat whatever they gave me… They would starve me until I would just eat whatever they threw in front of me. I don’t have to do that with you here… It’s kind of nice. You taste really good.”

“Thanks, I think?” He looked away as he felt Keith sink his teeth into his shoulder. He kept his eyes on the ceiling. It looked like Keith was fixing the hole that was there. “Are you planning to stay here for a while?”

“I guess? I mean, I don’t really know where I can go where I won’t kill humans.” Said Keith. “Are there many humans out there?”

“... We pretty much live on every continent on the planet.”

“Ah…”

“There might be an island or something with a lot of pigs you could live on?” Lance didn’t know too much about geography but he was pretty sure there were a few islands out in the Pacific inhabited by nothing but pigs. Keith might be happy there.

“... They talked about an island.”

“Yeah?”

Keith nodded as he sunk his teeth into his bicep. “Where I was they talked a few times about an island… I didn’t really understand what they were talking about. I was really young. I don’t know what they were talking about… I think I came from an island or maybe my parents did? I didn’t understand really… Everyone always talked about me and not to me… Unless giving me directions. Shiro was nice to me though.”

“It’s okay… You don’t have to think about that place again.” Said Lance calmly. “Can you tell me about Shiro? You seem to really like the guy.” Lance had learned over the past few feedings that Keith didn’t really like to talk about himself that much, but he would mention things from his past like that Shiro guy. If Keith didn’t want to talk he’d take a bigger bite. 

Today Keith seemed to be in a talkative mood. “Shiro was… He was a scientist. That’s what he said he was. He was younger than the others there and he was… He was nice to me. He would just talk to me. He talked to me about my books and answered my questions when he could.”

“He sounds really nice.”

“Yeah, he was…” Keith suddenly got very sad. “I miss him a lot. I wasn’t allowed to see him after I ate his arm.”

“... You ate his arm?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah… I was hungry. Really hungry. I wasn’t allowed to eat for a week and I bit his hand… I ripped it off and I… I couldn’t stop. Just couldn’t stop. I would have eaten him all if… I don’t know if Shiro is still alive… He probably hates me now and is scared of me… Like everyone else.”

Lance held Keith’s hand and gently squeezed. “He isn’t… I-I’m sure if he knew you he would understand why you ate him.”

“I don’t think so. Humans aren’t okay with being eaten.”

“Yeah… Normal humans…” Muttered Lance. “I might not be able to make it out tomorrow. It’s the weekend so I’m going to be out with my friends.”

“Oh… Okay. I’ll be fine. I still need to fix my roof.”

“Yeah. It could rain and that would suck.”

“What’s rain?”

“... Water falling from the sky.”

Keith frowned a little. “Like a shower?”

“Kind of, but it’s cold.”

Keith nodded but continued to frown. “I see… That would be bad.”

“Yeah. Have you finished eating?” Asked Lance. Keith nodded and started to wipe away the blood at the locations of Lance’s rapidly healing bite marks. Once he was clean Lance pulled his shirt back on and headed out. “See you soon.”

“Y-yeah. Come back soon?”

“I will.” Lance waved goodbye to Keith and headed back to his house. It took him about ten minutes to walk from Keith’s cabin to his house. When he got home his mama was quick to scold him for being out later than he said he was going to be.

“I don’t want you out so late. What were you even doing?” She scolded. Go wash up and come sit down for dinner.”

“Yes mama.” Lance headed to the bathroom to wash his hands. As he dried he happened to see Rachel standing in the doorway. “Need the bathroom?” 

“Nah, just seeing if you’re okay.” She said. “You kind of… You’ve been kind of quiet over the past few days.”

“I saw dead bodies Rachel.” Muttered Lance. “It’s a little hard to act all cheerful after that.”

“I know… But maybe you should just come home after school instead? Instead of doing what you’re-”

“I was with Hunk and Pidge.”

“I saw them both at the bakery today and asked them where you were. They said you were at home.”

“... Oh.”

“Yeah.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “Look Lance, if you just want to sit around by yourself in some quiet place, we’re okay with that. We understand that. We just want to know where you are. Especially mama, you know how she can get.”

“I know…” He sighed and shook his head. “She really worries about me too much.”

“She can’t help it. Also, she’s going to be badgering you about all that MRI and X-ray stuff tomorrow.”

“Huh?”

“Mama organised that for you to do tomorrow. Should take up most of the morning.”

Lance sighed heavily. “So I can’t sleep in huh?”

“Nope.”

“Fun…” Lance walked down to the kitchen to have dinner with his parents. His mama had made ropa vieja, which normally Lance loved, but today it tasted kind of weird. He ignored the delicious pork and just ate the rice. The meat just tasted funny to him. “Hey mama? Did you use different spices or something?”

“No? Is something wrong mijo?” She asked.

Lance shrugged. “No. It just tastes a little weird to me… I don’t know why.”

“Brain tumour.” Said Rachel. “You hit your head and now your sense of taste is all messed up.”

“Don’t joke about that hija.” Said their dad. “Lance, eat your food. Don’t waste it.”

“Yes papa…” Lance put some of the pork on his fork and ate it. It still tasted off to him, but he ate it anyway to make his mama happy… Even if it made him feel a little sick. It tasted kind of soapy and rotten.


	8. Birds, bees, and fish guts

Keith didn’t know what a weekend was. He didn’t really have much of a concept of time. All he really knew when there was light he was meant to be up and about, and when it was dark he should be sleeping. Since Lance was going to be gone for an indefinite amount of time, Keith needed to hunt for food. Since he couldn’t really hunt humans and pigs didn’t seem to be around, Keith was just going to wander the woods to see what he could find.

It didn’t take him too long to pick up the scent of some kind of female animal. He had no idea what it was, but he tracked it anyway. He eventually found a weird looking animal. It had very long, skinny legs, a long neck, and pointed snout. It also had a little fluffy tail. 

Keith didn’t know what it was, but meat was meat. He stayed down wind of it and waited for the opportunity to pounce on it. But he wanted to watch it for a bit first. It slowly walked around and ate grass. It was interesting, but it was time to eat it.

He dug his claws into the ground and bared his teeth. Keith was ready to pounce on it and rip it apart. But before he could, another one of these weird creatures walked over to the female. They looked like the female, but they had horns. Horns that looked like tree branches sticking out of their head. Keith stared at the new animal in confusion. 

He became even more confused when the horned animal mounted the female and looked like it was trying to jump over them, but couldn’t quite make it. Both animals were making weird sounds too. Keith didn’t get it, but he felt like he probably shouldn’t be watching this. So despite his curiosity and hunger, Keith slinked away and went to find something else to eat. Animals were weird. Why try to jump over another animal when you can just walk around it?

Eventually Keith found a rabbit and chased it down. Quickly grabbing it and breaking its neck. Keith then sat down and happily ate it. He ate it at the edge of a large body of water with some kind of island in the middle of it all. Keith stared at it for a moment and wondered if he could swim over to it. He doubted he could. He washed his hands and face off in the water before he headed back to the forest. 

Keith needed to find some more meat. He still didn’t know when Lance would come back. He hoped that a weekend wasn’t too long. He already missed Lance. He was used to being isolated and ignored, but he liked talking to Lance. It was like when he used to talk to Shiro… Though if he was honest there was always that bit of fear and slight anxiety around him.

He understood it and didn’t hold it against the older man. Keith was very… He didn’t get along well with others. He remembered the first time he met Shiro… He had been taken to the talking room.”

***

The talking room was a small white room with a table and two chairs. A thick sheet of clear perspex was cut right down the middle of the room through the table. There was a small slit in the plastic just above the table’s surface so things could get passed between them. Keith just sat on the chair and waited patiently for someone to come and talk to him.

He didn’t really like sitting there for too long. He wanted to walk along his side of the glass wall, but he would always get yelled at when he moved off the chair. At least he was allowed to bring a book with him. If the person talking to him was in a good mood, they would read it to him when they were done talking. But that often depended on who was talking to him that day. It was usually a woman, but she always looked at him with disgust. She might read to him. He never really caught her name. If it was Sendak, he would take Keith’s book and he wouldn’t get it back for a long, long time.

The door suddenly opened and Keith quickly sat up straight. A new person came in. They were male and had black hair. They smiled nervously at him and sat across from him. He put on some reading glasses and looked down at a clipboard they had brought in with them.

“So…” Said the man. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Takashi Shirogane. You can just call me Shiro. I’ll be working with you from now on. Can you tell me what your name is?” 

“...” Keith didn’t trust this Shiro guy. If he acted nice then that meant he wanted something from him. He didn’t know what Shiro wanted from him. It made him nervous.

“... Okay, can I ask you some questions? You can just nod or shake your head. Sound reasonable?”

Keith nodded. He knew that if he didn’t say or do anything, then he’d get in trouble again. He was tired of loud noises being blasted through the speakers when he was just about to fall asleep, or the small amount of things he was allowed to keep being taken away again.

Shiro seemed happy with his nod and looked down at his clipboard. “You’re K-P1?”

Keith nodded. That’s what everyone called him. That or monster.

“And you’re eleven?”

Keith shrugged. He didn’t know how old he was. No one told him how old he was. He just kept growing and people talked. He had no sense of time in this place. If they said he was eleven then he was eleven.

Shiro frowned at that response. “You don’t know how old you are? Don’t they tell you?”

Keith shook his head.

“... I see. Would you like to know about me?”

Keith was confused. No one really talked to him about themselves. That wasn’t something they did. He nodded, but remained cautious. This could be some kind of trick and Keith still didn’t know what Shiro’s motive was in this situation.

“Well, like I told you, my name is Takashi Shirogane. I’m a biospeleogist. It’s a big word, but that means I’m a scientist that studies life in um… in inclosed ecosystems… Kind of like this. I’m here to make sure you’re happy and healthy. Do you feel happy?” 

The young boy frowned and looked down at the table. He didn’t really know what happiness was. He just felt tired all the time and just wanted to eat, sleep, and look at the colourful pictures in his book. He just shrugged.

“Okay… What do you have there?” Asked Shiro. “Looks like a book. Can I see it?”

“...” This was a bit of a gamble for Keith. If he refused to show Shiro his book then it might mean another week of being sleep deprived or not eating. If he gave Shiro his book then he might not give it back. It was his favourite one. He didn’t want to lose it, but they could take it away from him anyway. His hands shook slightly as he pushed the book through the hole in the glass. He didn’t expect to get it back, and that really upset him.

Shiro picked up the book and looked at it. “The Big Red Barn. Do you like this book?”

Keith was getting nervous. If he said yes would Shiro take it away from him? Would it be a good idea to lie and say no? Would he just take it either way? He didn’t know. He nodded and stared down at the table. 

“Ah, I see.” 

Keith heard the legs of Shiro’s chair scrape across the ground, like he was going to leave. It made Keith panic. “No!” He yelled as he jumped up, pressing his hands against the glass. “Don’t take my book! Please! I answered your questions! I-I’m sorry I didn’t speak before! Please don’t take it away! Please!”

Shiro froze in shock and just stared at him in shock. “... I wasn’t going to take your book. I was adjusting my chair.”

“O-oh…” Keith slumped back in his chair and felt defeated. He yelled at Shiro and now there was no way he could get his book back. They probably wouldn’t give him back his book after this. It was okay. Really. He didn’t really like that book that much. He still had two other books he could look at.

Suddenly the book was pushed back onto Keith’s side of the glass. He quickly grabbed it and looked up at Shiro, very confused. He seemed a little unsettled by Keith’s outburst. “I’m sorry about that. I’m not going to take your things. I’m here to try and help you.”

“... Am I in trouble?” Asked Keith quietly.

“Of course not.’ Said Shiro. “You thought I was going to take one of the few things you’re allowed to have. Can I ask why you have the book with you?”

Keith shrugged. “If… If I’m good then the lady might read it to me… I like it when she reads to me… I can’t read.”

That surprised Shiro. “You can’t read? Then why do you have books?”

“I like the pictures… Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

Keith opened the book and pointed to a page with larger animals with their offspring. “I don’t understand this.”

Shiro read the few words on the page and frowned. “What don’t you understand? It says; There’s mummy and daddy duck, with their ducklings. Mummy and daddy chicken with their chicks. Mummy and daddy cat with their kittens.”

Keith nodded. “Do I have a mummy and daddy too?”

“...Well, um yeah? I guess… I mean, you had to come from somewhere, right?” His answer actually surprised Keith a lot. No one told him that before. If he had asked before then they would just ignore him or punish him. He once asked Sendak if he was his dad. Sendak hit him and told him that monsters don’t have parents. He still thought he had to come from somewhere.

“Can you find them for me?” Asked Keith quietly. “I… I want to know why they didn’t want me…”

“What makes you think they didn’t want you?”

“They aren’t here… a mummy and daddy are meant to protect their baby…” He nervously fidgeted in his seat and closed the book. “Were my mummy and daddy monsters like me?”

“I… I don’t know.” Shiro seemed nervous now. He cleared his throat and stood up. “Well, our time is up now. Thank you for talking to me K-P1. I’ll see you soon.”

Keith nodded and held his book close to his chest. “O-Okay… Am I in trouble? F-for asking about them? S-Sendak and everyone else gets mad at me for asking about them.”

“You’re not in trouble. You did really good today.”

Shiro left the room and soon after the pressurised door keeping Keith in the talking room opened up and let him back into his small cell. In his cell he had a bed, a small desk, and his books. He put the book down with the rest and went to go back to laying on his bed. He then noticed the paper and markers that had been left on his desk. He must have done something right if he got a reward.

***

Keith smiled at that memory. He didn’t care about knowing who his parents were anymore. They were either dead or didn’t care about him. Maybe that’s just what his kind did? Just had babies and left them to fend for himself? He didn’t know. Hell, he didn’t even know how babies were made.

When Keith was done cleaning up he went back to hunting. He quickly found another one of those weird creatures with the thin legs and long necks. It had those weird branch horns on its head too. 

He cracked his knuckles and quickly pounced on them. They hardly had a chance to buck Keith off of him when the man violently sunk his teeth into the animal’s neck. He violently shook it. Ripped it. Tore into flesh and bone. By the time he was done the animal’s head was almost completely torn off. Keith grabbed it by its back legs and dragged it back to his cabin. He’d eat it slowly over the next few days until Lance came back.

***

Lance spent the morning having X-rays and MRI’s done. As far as anyone knew, he was still fine. No one had given him any bad news about his brain being broken, so he was all fine. Apparently. It was pretty messed but Lance didn’t really mind. He knew it wasn’t his mind. It was Keith, and he didn’t mind.

His mother still seemed worried about him and wanted him to stay home for the rest of the day. Which annoyed the hell out of Lance, but he agreed just to make her feel better. He wanted to hang out with his friends. She wasn’t very happy about this, but said that he could invite them over, but he wanted them under her roof.

She would often go through these weird bouts of being over protective of him. He understood that she loved him and was just worried that something bad had happened to him, but he sometimes felt like she was treating him with kid gloves. She was way too overprotective. 

Well, at least Lance was able to have his friends over. Pidge and Hunk dropped by to hang out in his room. Pidge happily flopped down on Lance’s bed and poked him. “So, you got a tumor in your head or something?”

“That’s not nice Pidge.” Said Hunk. “But seriously, are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” Said Lance. “Nothing wrong with my brain.” At least nothing physical that he would admit out loud to them.

“Well that’s good.” Said Pidge. “Have the police asked you any more questions?”

“Nope.” Said Lance. “I guess I wasn’t that useful? Either that or they have a better lead than some poor dumbass that slipped on someone’s guts and knocked themselves out.”

“Don’t be like that man.” Said Hunk. “Want to come over for dinner tonight? Like, if your mum lets you? If she isn’t too…”

“I doubt she’ll let me go.” Said Lance sadly. “But I’d really like to. I can ask.”

Pidge groaned slightly. “Man, your family always makes the best food ever… What are you making this time?”

“Baked fish.” Said Hunk. “So fresh we have to scale and gut them ourselves.”

“That sounds so good…” Whined Lance. “Did you catch them yourselves?”

“Yeah, dad caught them in the lake with his friend earlier today.” Said Hunk. “Always good fish in the lake… Shame the island is still off limits.

“Government experiments.” Said Pidge. “Chemical testing. Everything’s irradiated.”

“Are the chemicals in the water turning the freaking frogs gay?” Asked Lance.

“Perhaps.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I’ll go and ask mama if she’ll let me go. You two… Don’t mess up my stuff.”

Hunk and Pidge shared an evil look that just screamed that they were going to go through his stuff. “We promise we won’t.” They said. Which Lance knew was bullshit.

Lance went downstairs to where his mama was reading a book. She looked up at him and smiled slightly. “Do you need something Lance?”

“Can I go over to Hunk’s place for dinner tonight?” He asked.

She did not look very pleased. “Honey… I don’t think that-”

“Hunk can drive me home right after.” He said. “Right there and back. You know Hunk is responsible. He won’t be doing anything crazy. I know it. You know it. Please?”

She sighed and shook her head. “Just be back before eleven. Okay?”

Lance grinned and hugged her. “Thank you mama. You’re the best.”

She sighed and hugged back. “I am much too soft for your own good. Say hi to Hunk’s parents for me.”

“I will. Thanks mama.” Lance quickly headed up to his room and grinned at them. “Mama said yes!”

Soon after mama McClain gave her approval, the trio headed to Hunk’s place. Hunk’s mum directed Hunk and Lance outside to help Hunk’s dad with the gutting and scaling. Pidge got roped into cutting up fruit. 

The boys headed into the backyard and were handed a cutting board and knife by Hunk’s old man. It wasn’t the first time the boys had gutted fish. It was pretty much a Summer tradition at this point.

The boys sat down and went to gut their fish, but the second the entrails spilled out onto the cutting board Lance felt sick. All he could remember was that first grizzly scene where Keith had mutilated his kill. Did the fish’s guts just twitch? They did. He felt like he was going to vomit. His stomach lurched, and Lance quickly got up and ran to the far side of the yard to vomit. 

He wretched for a good five minutes as Hunk came over to make sure he was okay. “Are you okay?”

“No…” Muttered Lance. “I… I don’t think I can handle guts anymore. I’m sorry… I… I can’t.”

“Oh! It’s okay man. I totally get it! I should have realised that…” Hunk just looked so distraught. “I am so sorry man…. I should have… Come inside. Go wash up. We’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks… Sorry abou-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Said Hunk as he quickly shooed him inside.

Lance nodded and quickly went inside and slipped into the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and realised how shit he suddenly looked. His face looked all clammy and kind of grey. It was bad. But that wasn’t the worst part of it. He kept thinking about what it would be like for Keith to cut him open and eat his guts. He wanted Keith to pin him down and slit him open so his guts spilled out like that fish. It made him shiver at how fucked up his mind had become. 

***

Keith dragged his kill back to the cabin and slowly ate it over the rest of the day. Fur, bones, tendons, muscles… Everything. It tasted okay. Not nearly as good as Lance did, but it was okay. Lance would come back soon for him. Right? He hadn’t been abandoned again… Maybe?

That thought made him nervous. Keith was a monster. He ate living creatures. He actively hunted them down and ripped them to pieces. It was easier to hunt things that couldn’t talk back to him, but they just didn’t taste as good. It wasn’t his fault was it?

This was just natural to him. If he went about and did what was natural to him, was he evil? Were monster’s evil? He didn’t want to be evil. He just was. Could one thing be evil just by the nature of existing? Keith just wanted to survive.

He wondered how his kind survived outside of that place and on their own. Did they hide in human society? Could they even do that? He figured it might be possible since he did look human for the most part. He did find it kind of hard to believe though when humans smelled so delicious. There was no way his kind, whatever it was called, could live alongside humans without completely devouring them.

He sighed sadly and took another bite out of his catch. Maybe he was better off alone? He should hide deeper in the mountains away from everyone and everything. That might be for the best. He just wanted to be left alone. He hoped that everyone would be able to do that. Just leave him alone. That sounded impossible though.

He was a monster, and according to Lance that meant he was unnatural. Something that wasn’t meant to exist. Maybe that meant he really shouldn’t be alive? And if he wasn’t meant to be alive, then did that mean that he was the only one of his kind? Did the people there make him? If that was true then that really meant he was alone. No one wanted him. He was a mistake.

“...” He looked down at the face of the animal he was eating. He’d already eaten most of its muzzle and cracked open its skull to get to its brain. Hell it was mostly half a skull at this point. “Am I… am I evil?” He asked it quietly, but he got no answer.

He sighed sadly and took another bite out of it and continued to feel like shit. He missed Lance. He missed Shiro. He didn’t know if Lance would ever come back. He still didn’t know how long weekends were. He hoped it wasn’t long. Lance was so nice to him. He let him eat him. Lance seemed to like him too… maybe… He did come back every day to see him. So that meant he liked him, right? Keith liked Lance.

***

A bus pulled up in town and several people got out. Krolia was one of them. She was back in town but didn’t know why she was here. She didn’t want to be here, but she couldn’t help it. That Takashi guy had said that he worked with it. That thing she birthed was still alive. She wanted answers.

She held the strap of her bag close and headed to the cheap motel close to the bus stop. This town, and a fair few of the people in it worked at that place. Not all of them would have known about her, probably only the higher ups or anyone that has seen her interviews. She was pretty sure they were all recorded. At least there was audio for all of them.

She quickly went to the hotel and got the cheapest room she could afford for the week. When she was safely got inside she emptied out her bag and found her gun case. She took it out and quickly opened it up to check her Super Redhawk. She quickly checked the chamber, all empty. She quickly loaded it and took a deep breath.

Krolia knew what she had to do. She had to find Shiro, get as much information off him as possible by any means necessary… Then she would find her son, and kill him. She couldn’t believe that they would let them live that long. No other experiment had lived past fifteen, but then again that was probably because the mother of J-P1 went temporarily mad and tried to self about with a plastic spoon.

Krolia wasn’t doing to be like that. She knew what she had to do. Agreeing to the project was a mistake. She was just young and foolish. The money and opportunity was too good to turn down. If she said no then she wouldn’t have been able to get the job she actually wanted… It was a mistake. She needed to fix this once and for all.


	9. Anxiety

Lance felt weird. Really, really weird. Kind of sick. He didn’t like it. It felt like something was squirming under his skin. It almost felt like there were bugs crawling under it. He wondered if this was what meth addicts felt like. He had heard that they feel like bugs are crawling under their skin and pick at it. It was pretty bad.

He sighed a little as he curled up on his bed. His mama had said she was going to the shops with his papa and his sisters were out with friends, and his brothers weren’t expected to drop by. So Lance was home alone. Not that he minded. But his whole body felt weird. His mama wanted him to stay home, but Lance wanted to get outside for a bit. Some fresh air would do him a world of good.

He quickly pulled on his shoes and walked out into the garden. He took a few deep breaths. He couldn’t understand why he felt so bad in his own skin… He wanted to see Keith. Like, the monster might get hungry and eat someone else. That would be bad. He’d just go and check on them. That’s all.

He walked past the garden and into the woods. Lance started off walking at a normal pace, but that pace squickly sped up until he broke into a sprint back to the cabin. When it came into view Lance ran faster and practically slammed the door open. He was quickly greeted by Keith jumping on top of him. His clothes and face were covered in blood. He looked like a completely rabid human and they growled at him.

It took Keith a few seconds before he realised it was Lance. He looked confused for a few moments before he smiled. “Is the weekend over?”

“... Did you eat someone?”

Keith frowned a little and looked at himself. “Um, no? I ate a weird thing that had a long neck and long legs. It had horns growing out of its head like tree branches.”

“Oh, a deer.”

Keith shrugged and got off of Lance, quickly helping him up. “If that’s what it’s called then yes. So is the weekend over now?”

“Weekends are two days.”

“... So it’s still the weekend?”

“Yeah… I just needed to see you… Make sure you’re okay.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. Are you okay? You seem a little… Jumpy?”

“... I don’t know. Are you hungry? Do you need to eat?”

“Well, I just kind of ate the rest of that deer I killed…”

“So you don’t need to eat me?”

“Um… Not really?”

“Oh?”

“Do you want to come in?” Asked Keith.

“Yeah…” Lance entered the cabin and was both surprised and not surprised to see a large blood stain on the floor. There were antlers randomly tossed to the side. Keith really did eat a deer. “Huh…” He sat on the bed and Keith awkwardly sat next to him and started to lick some of the dried blood off from under his fingernails.

“... Weekends are usually two days? A night and day cycle?” Asked Keith.

“Yeah. It is. Did you really not know what a weekend was?”

“Nope. Time just kind of melts together for me.” Said Keith calmly. “I… I just have to do what I can to survive.”

“... I guess humans have it really easy huh?”

Keith shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not human.”

“Yeah… Do you even know what you are? Like, where you come from?” Asked Lance. “You’re a mystery. You shouldn’t exist but you do… I don’t get it.”

Keith frowned and shrugged. “I don’t know much about myself either. I’m just a thing that exists… I grew up in a white room with a bed and a desk. I had three books that I could look at the pictures in.”

“You can’t read?”

“No…” He sighed. “When I was small they did a lot of things to me to test me… They said that they didn’t know how long I would live so they needed to do the most extreme things first. I still don’t really know what they meant by that. They did things that hurt me a lot when I was small… They backed off a bit more when I got bigger.”

That was surprisingly more information than Lance thought he would get from the monster. “What did they do to you?”

Keith shrugged. “Cut me open mostly. Then when they stopped that, they kept feeding me food with parasites and illnesses to see if I would get sick too. They took some of my blood after it.”

“Why did you eat it if you knew it would make you sick?”

“They starved me to the point I started trying to eat myself.” Said Keith calmly. “After that it was pretty much eat them or die.”

“... That’s horrible.” Said Lance. Keith really had a shit life. “Do you know what kind of diseases these animals had?”

Keith shrugged. “Not really… Oh, there was once a pig that was foaming at the mouth and tried to gore more instead of running away. That was fun. There was also one that had most of his internal eaten away and they were kind of like soup.”

“... Rabies and ebola?” Questioned Lance.

Keith shrugged again. “Maybe? I don’t know. I had a mild fever for a day and some stomach troubles, but I was fine after. I don’t know why they made me eat those gross things, but I didn’t have much of a choice… Once I went into the feeding room I wasn’t allowed to leave until I ate what was thrown in front of me.”

“Feeding room?”

Keith nodded. “It was a room. A bit bigger than this cabin. There was a shower thing overhead… When I went to eat, I would get undressed and wait until an animal was pushed through a chute and into the room. After I’d eaten the shower thing would turn on and clean me and the room. Then I’d be given new clothes and I’d go back to my room.”

“... They would make you strip down naked?”

“I don’t normally look human when I eat. I look a lot more like what I did when we first met.”

“Ah…”

“Yeah…” Keith frowned a little as he kicked at the ground. “I like eating you better. You taste a lot nicer.”

That was such a weird compliment but Lance just accepted it. “Thanks I guess?” Lance still felt weird in his own skin.

“... Are you okay?” Asked Keith. “You still seem very distressed.”

Lance shrugged. “I don’t know. My skin just feels weird. It feels like there is something under it. I’m not sure.”

“... Do you want me to peel it back?” Asked Keith. 

“You want to peel back my skin?”

Keith shrugged. “If you feel like there is something under your skin then isn’t it best to peel it off?”

“... There is so much wrong in what you just said there I don’t even know where to start.”

“I’m just trying to help…”

“I know, but still…” He looked down at his arm and frowned a little. It wasn’t like it was really going to hurt or anything. He sighed and held his arm out to Keith. “Fine, just do it.” The second Keith opened his mouth Lance practically shoved his forearm into Keith’s mouth, choking him slightly. “Sorry!” Lance quickly pulled his arm back. “I um… I’m sorry. My body just moved on its own…”

Keith sat back a little and blinked a little in shock. “You want me to eat you?”

“I… I don’t know.” Lance could feel his face heating up in embarrassment. “I just… My body moved on its own when you opened your mouth…”

“That’s… Interesting?” Keith picked up Lance’s arm and lightly sunk his teeth into the flesh. Keith might not have been very hungry, but he was still eating him and it was oddly relaxing. It stopped that weird feeling of insects crawling under his skin. “Did that help the itching or whatever you were feeling?”

“Surprisingly, yes.” Said Lance quietly. “I… That weird crawling feeling under my skin goes away when you eat me… Fuck, that’s weird.”

“... I’m sorry.” Said Keith. “Do you think I did something to you? Like, this hasn’t happened before when I’ve… I don’t think that happened to Shiro…A-anyway. You know a lot of things. Can I ask you a question?”

“Oh, um sure?” Lance wasn’t so sure what Keith would ask him, but he could try and answer him.

“When I was out hunting the other day I saw two of those deer things.” Said Keith. “There was a female just eating grass when this male came over to her and tried to jump over her. They were making weird grunting sounds.”

“Um…”

“Like, why didn’t it just walk around her?”

Lance didn’t think that Keith could be this dense. “Keith, they were fucking.”

Keith had a surprised look on his face. “Fucking?”

“Yeah, sex. You know? Making babies and all that?” The blank look on Keith’s face made Lance worry a lot. “Wait, do you really not know about sex? Do you seriously not know where babies come from? How old are you?”

Keith quickly became embarrassed and awkwardly shuffled away from Lance on the mattress. “I don’t know… Cut me some slack here. I don’t know a lot of things. No one’s told me anything they didn’t think was necessary...”

“...Oh. So you’ve never... Have you um… Have you ever seen a girl, or guy, and thought that they were really, really hot?”

“... Shiro was very red and sweaty when he came to see me a few times? So I guess he was hot?”

Lance shook his head. “No I mean, have you seen someone and thought they were attractive? Like you wanted them to hold you, and kiss you? Maybe you felt… you know… some tingling around your um… Pelvis?”

Keith frowned and stared blankly at the wall. He seemed like he was really thinking hard. “... I liked it when you held me when I ate you the second time.” Admitted Keith. “I liked it when you held me and let me hold you…”

“Oh…”

Keith shrugged. “I liked it… But I guess you didn’t like it that much since I was eating you.”

“Um… That isn’t really what I meant but… Um… Oh boy, look at the time. I gotta get going. See you tomorrow Keith. Bye!” Lance quickly left the cabin and quickly headed back home. He was not prepared to have the sex talk with a monster.

***

At least once a week Shiro went to talk with Keith in the talking room. The young monster had quickly grown attached to him. They didn’t really have much to talk about, but Keith would ask him questions about anything that really came to his head. When Shiro told him what he learned about his mother and how she had decided to call him Keith. It was like pulling teeth trying to get permission to see her interview before she was implanted with Keith.

He remembered that day well because Keith cried. He was overwhelmed with all kinds of emotions, but he was happy that he was happy that his mother had given him a name. It kind of shocked Shiro how much something as simple as a name meant so much to Keith.

But today Shiro had come with a purpose. He had some results from the black box text they performed a few days before. “So how did you feel being stuck in a room with no light for a week?” Asked Shiro. 

Keith shrugged. “It was calm. It was like when I was sleeping. I liked it.”

“That’s good… Do you prefer dark places?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah… The bright lights hurt my eyes and it makes my head hurt.”

“Bright light gives you headaches?”

Keith nodded. “Yes… I have mentioned it before… I got put in a room where the lights were on all the time for a week…”

“Yeah, I read about that… You tried to give yourself a concussion by the third day…”

“Yeah.” Keith almost sounded proud of it too.

“Anyway… You were able to navigate being in the dark without bumping into anything. Correct?”

“It wasn’t that dark.” Said Keith calmly. “It’s hard to explain but I could feel where everything was when I walked around. Like, the vibrations could help me see things.”

That really got Shiro interested. This was why he was here. He was a biospeleologist after all. This was this stuff he was interested in. “Do you enjoy staying in small spaces? Do you like warm, dark spaces or cold, dark spaces? Maybe you prefer them damp?”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t care. I like the dark. It’s a lot more calm and soothing then being out in the light.”

“Yeah, the lights are pretty bright aren’t they?” Said Shiro. “Even I think they are a bit bright.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah… Shiro? Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can.” Said Shiro. “Ask me anything Keith. I’m an open book.”

“... My body is changing.”

“How so?” Maybe he had found a lump or something on his body? He would have to report that and have someone get a biopsy of it.

“My voice.” Said Keith. “Sometimes it gets deeper. I also have some hair growing in weird places. Like here-” Keith lifted his arm and pulled down the sleeve on his shirt. He was starting to grow a little bit of armpit hair. “-and um… Lower too…”

“I see…” Shiro had no idea how he was meant to explain what puberty was to Keith. Keith was a monster. Well, part monster anyway. Being part human he could experience some human aspects of puberty. “Well, that’s part of puberty.”

“Pu ber tea?”

Shiro nodded. “Yep. That’s right. It’s the period where your body goes from being a child into being an adult. You’re growing up. Are you feeling anything else?”

“... I’m hungrier than I usually am.” Said Keith. “I want more food, but I still don’t get a lot of food… I’d like more food…”

“That’s reasonable.” Said Shiro calmly. “You’re a growing boy. You need your food to grow up big and strong.”

Keith nodded and drummed his fingers against his side of the table. “Thank you… Shiro? Can I ask you something else?”

“Sure.”

“... Can I touch you? I want to know what you feel like.”

“Um…”

“You don’t have to stick your hand through the hole.” Said Keith quickly. “I um, I can do this...” Keith very nervously poked his pinky through the opening in the glass. Shiro was just shocked that Keith wanted someone to touch him. This was pretty big. Keith hated being touched by anyone. He would usually get extremely violent if anyone touched him, no matter the reason.

Shiro cautiously touched Keith’s finger. “Oh, you’re cold… You don’t have very good circulation do you?”

“You’re warm.” Said Keith quietly. “The only time I get to feel something warm like this is when they are wrapped in my arms and I’m digging my fangs into their neck.”

Keith often made unnerving comments like that, but Shiro just let it go. Keith didn’t exactly have the best upbringing. “I see… I have seen how you um… Catch your food. You tend to wrap your arms around them like you’re crushing them.”

The young man shrugged and pulled his hand back. “I just grab them and hold them close… If they struggle I might hurt them and they will scream and I don’t like it when they do. It’s not their fault that they are being given to me to eat…” He sniffed his pinky and licked it. “Shiro… Have I told you I’m starting to get meat cravings? Cravings for humans?”

This was a disturbing new development. Sure, Keith had incidents where he was able to kill and eat people, but he never expressed any preference to eat human flesh before. “Care to elaborate?”

“... I can smell you all the time.” Said Keith quietly. “Not just you, but everyone in here. It’s in the halls, the air vents, and even in my clothes. Human meat smells sweet. It almost tastes like pork but has a better flavour. I want it all. I want to grab hold of a human and bite their neck out…” He frowned. “Actually, no. I won’t bite out their necks.”

“... You won’t?”

Keith shook his head and smiled. “Everyone here has been horrible to me. Everyone here has hurt me or watched me get hurt over and over again without trying to help me… So when I get out of here I’m going to make everyone suffer. I won’t break their necks first. I’ll rip open their bellies and break their legs. They can suffer just the small amount of pain that I go through every single day.”

“... Right…”

“But I like you Shiro.” Said Keith. “I’ll make it quick for you. You haven’t hurt me and you’ve always been nice to me… I might actually leave you alive. What would you prefer? Would you rather die or would you rather I left you alive?”

“Um… Alive would be nice…”

“Okay. I’ll leave you alive.”

“Thanks… I think?” Shiro didn’t like how pleased Keith seemed to be at his statement that he would kill every human in the building, apart from him. He liked Keith a lot, but he was a violent monster. If he ever managed to escape he would kill any human he came across. No one would be able to come across him without Keith quickly and violently murdering them.

***

“Hey, Shiro? Earth to Shiro?” 

Shiro jumped a little, almost spilling his coffee on himself. He was at home right now. He wasn’t at work, but work still stuck with him. His finance didn’t like how distracted he would get some days, but he understood how sometimes you could bring your work home. Adam was a detective after all.

“Did you say something Adam?” He asked.

“I was saying that you seem distracted.” He said calmly.

Shiro shrugged. “Just some stuff happening at work… It’s a little crazy right now.”

“Yeah, same.” Muttered Adam. “Still haven’t been able to get any leads on any animal attacks… It must have been a bear or something… There haven’t been any more attacks… So… There really isn’t anything else we can do.”

Shiro nodded and gently squeezed his hand. “You did the best you could.”

“I know… I still feel shitty about it.” Muttered Adam. “Two people died.”

“Yeah… It will be okay though.” Said Shiro calmly. He kissed Adam’s cheek. “Things will get better. Don’t worry about it.”

Adam sighed and leaned into Shiro’s arm. “I know… You don’t worry about work either. Things will be fine. Really.”

Shiro smiled and made a sound that sounded like he agreed, but in all honesty, Shiro was worried. Sendak and Honerva were sending out their hired goons to track down Keith and bring him back. Keith wouldn’t take it lying down… He didn’t want Keith to get taken back to his depressingly bright room, but he didn’t want Keith to be out there hurting anyone either.

Maybe he should try and find that Generator? They were someone in the town. They had to be the one Keith left alive when he murdered those two other people. “What was the name of that guy that you had to interview again? The one at the hospital? You said he was really out of it.”

“Hmm? Lance?” Asked Adam.

“Yeah, is he doing okay?”

“I guess? We looked into him and he’s a good kid.” Said Adam. “A straight B senior student at the local highschool. Never been in trouble with the police, no gang affiliations. No underage drinking, causing a disturbance, nothing.”

“Oh okay.”

Adam frowned a little and sipped his drink. “By the way, if I get a call about a strange, one armed man walking around the highschool I am going to tell the chief to keep you locked up for the full 24hours.”

Shiro pouted. “You think so poorly of me?”

“I know you have a big heart when it comes to younger people. But seriously? Don’t stalk all you kids in my cases! I’ll stop venting to you if you do.”

“Aw, don’t do that…” Said Shiro. “I was worried about him that’s all.”

Adam just shook his head and sighed. “You’re always worried about everyone. You’re going to go grey before you’re forty at this rate.” Shiro just laughed it off, but if he was honest with himself, Shiro really was worried about Lance. He could only imagine the emotional and psychological damage he was going through after being eaten over and over again.


	10. Sharing is caring

Lance sighed a little as he stirred his spoon around the cafferteria’s mac and cheese, or at least what they considered mac and cheese. It was kind of gross and rubbery. More so than usual. It was meant to be special because it had bacon in it, but it tasted like someone had dropped an ashtray in it. There had to be something wrong with his taste buds.

“Lance? Earth to Lance? Are you okay?” Asked Allura.

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

Allura usually fluttered between having lunch with Lance, Pidge, and Hunk, and her other friends. Allura was very popular after all with many extracurricular activities. She usually ate lunch with them once or twice a week. Today she managed to drag Lotor over too.

“You seem really spaced out.” Said Allura. “Is something wrong?”

Lance shrugged. “I just realised I don’t feel like eating this mac and cheese as much as I thought I did… It tastes kind of bad to me.”

“Tastes the same to me.” Said Pidge. “Tastes like a burnt rubber tire covered in bacon grease.”

“Yeah… Gonna stick with the sandwich.” Muttered Lance, though he picked the ham off of it.

“Are you going vegetarian or something?” Asked Pidge.

Lance frowned a little and looked down at his tray. He had picked at most things but he ignored and didn’t eat any of the meat there. It was odd. He wasn’t deliberately doing it. “It just doesn’t taste good… Like, it’s cafeteria food. What am I meant to do?”

“Well, it isn’t the worst.” Said Hunk. “There is worse stuff out there.”

Lotor nodded in agreement. “This is why I pack my own lunch. That and my mother is paranoid that the cafeteria is unsanitary… Trauma from her own school experiences.”

“I usually pack my own lunch.” Said Lance. “I just… I’m just kind of tired these days.” He kind of felt that maybe his tiredness was partially due to Keith eating him so often. His body needed to get the energy to make more muscles from somewhere. He should probably consider eating more just so he wouldn’t feel so tired hours after a feeding. 

“Study?” Questioned Allura. “Maybe you’re studying too hard? That coupled with what happened… Are you seeing a counselor?”

Lance shrugged. “I think my mama is trying to sort it out before she goes back to work. Not sure.”

“Want to hang out at my place after school?” Asked Pidge. “I got some new games I’m sure you’ll love.”

“... I think I’m just going to go home today.” Said Lance. “I just want to sleep…” That and he needed to go and feed Keith that evening. Hopefully he’ll only want one or two bites before he lets him go. He went back to stirring his mac and cheese. His friends shared worried looks.

***

Keith had a lot to think about as he tried to hobble together some kind of fix in the roof of his cabin. He felt like he had done a good enough job. Mud and sticks worked wonders. He was thinking a lot about sex but he couldn’t wrap his head around how that made babies. He probably should have asked Lance for more details.

Hell, he should have asked Shiro for more details about sex when he had the chance. He didn’t understand what Lance was talking about. A tingling around his pelvis? Only time he felt any tingling around there was when he really, really needed to pee. Was that what Lance was talking about? He had no idea. It was annoying. How the hell did sex even work? It was a mystery to him.

One of those many mysteries of the human world. Maybe he wouldn’t experience sexual desire until he found another monster like him? Would he be able to find another monster like him? He wasn’t sure. Sex seemed to be something that Lance wanted to avoid talking about. Shiro also didn’t want to talk about it either. It made Keith wonder if sex was painful or something humans saw as taboo.

But if sex came naturally was it bad? Could natural urges be considered bad if they came from an internal need that they needed to fulfill? If he remembered correctly in one of his later talks with Shiro he had asked him what do humans need to survive. Shiro had two answers.

_“Well, an individual human needs food, water, and shelter to survive. However for humans as a species to survive, then the species needs to have sex. That is, to have babies to make more of them.”_

His species, the monster species, couldn’t survive unless Keith had sex with someone and had babies with them. He wondered where he would be able to find another monster like himself. Did he even want his species to survive? No one else seemed to want him around anyway… Maybe Lance wanted him around? But Keith wasn’t stupid. He knew that Lance was probably doing this because he didn’t want him to go around eating other people. It was frustrating.

He needed to ask Lance more about how babies were made. Keith wasn’t sure if he wanted to have babies or not. What was he even meant to do with a baby anyway? He sighed and went back into the cabin to tidy everything up. He found a scrubbing brush and tried to get rid of the blood stain on the ground. It was kind of unsightly and he felt like the blood made Lance feel uncomfortable.

Keith still had the deer horns, but didn’t know what to do with them so he left them on the table. He could probably eat them if he wanted to eat something crunchy. Maybe Lance would like them? Maybe he could give Lance the horns in exchange for human knowledge about sex? That seemed like it might be a fair deal to him.

The door to the cabin opened and Lance walked in. Keith smiled at him. “Lance!” The man hummed a little. He shrugged off his backpack, took off his shirt, and laid face down on the bed. “Lance?” He walked over and lightly poked his arm. “Are you okay?”

“Just shut up and eat me…” Lance sounded annoyed and stressed.

“... Okay. But after that we're going to talk.”

“Fine.” 

Keith gently squeezed along Lance’s arm until he found a muscle he liked and sunk his teeth in. It tasted nice. He took a few mouthfuls and sat back. “Can we talk now? … Lance?” He lightly nudged the man and was surprised to see that he was asleep. It was… odd. Keith didn’t know what to do. He should probably just let Lance sleep for a little bit. He wiped the blood still on Lance’s skin and went back to tidying the cabin.

He had a good idea about what most of the thighs in the cabin were, but there was one thing he still didn’t understand. It was black, made of metal, had a little door in the front and a pipe that went all the way up and through the roof. It was weird. The metal box was also filled with black dirt. Yet another thing he needed to ask Lance about it.

When he was done cleaning he went back over to Lance and sat next to the bed, resting his chin on the mattress. Lance looked peaceful while he was sleeping. Keith liked it. He reached over and gently ran his fingers over Lance’s body. Every slight dip and crevice. He liked the muscle definition in his shoulders and arms. He also liked touching Lance’s body in general.

He had a yearning to be held by someone. Hell, he wanted to hold someone that wouldn’t try and escape his grasp. He knew he was a monster and wouldn’t be able to do those kinds of things, but he could always dream, right?

He ran his hand over Lance’s stomach and felt a slight tremor. It was very subtle, but Keith could tell what it was. Lance was hungry… But what did humans even eat? They had some pointy teeth, so they had to be able to eat meat, right?

A thought entered his mind. A thought that made the monster inside him ripple just under his skin. It was something that made his guts twist slightly at the perverse nature of it all, but at the same time it seemed right.

Keith looked down at his forearm and bit into it. Tears swelled up in his eyes a little. Unlike Lance, he could feel pain. He ripped a small chunk of flesh off of his body. It wasn’t that pretty red colour like Lance’s body. It looked like mud with different hues of green, blue and purple saturated through it. It had the consistency of mud too.

He very carefully and tenderly pressed it up against Lance’s lips to see if he would eat it. In Keith’s mind, it stood to reason that if he could eat Lance then there was no reason that Lance couldn’t eat him either. Besides, Lance was hungry right now. He’d give Lance food when he needed it. With a little bit of gentle coxing, Keith managed to push his flesh into Lance’s mouth. He was careful with it and made sure that Lance swallowed before he forced a little more in.

Once Lance had eaten that small part of himself, Keith bit off a slightly larger chunk of himself and fed it to Lance while pained tears ran down his face. It hurt too much to keep feeding Lance. He was kind of grateful that Lance couldn’t feel pain now. Getting bitten fucking hurt.

He wasn’t able to heal like Lance could and he didn’t know how to bandage an injury. So he just sat there on the floor and waited for Lance to wake up. He put his hand back on Lance’s stomach to see if he was still hungry. No more little growls or strange fluttering to indicate he was hungry. It made him smile. Lance was full and he felt like he had done a good job.

Eventually Lance started to stir and he sat up. “Did I fall asleep or something? Shit! The sun’s starting to set?! Fuck, I need to get home! What the fuck happened?”

Keith watched Lance panic slightly and handed him his shirt. “You got tired and fell asleep. You were hun-” 

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM?”

Keith frowned and looked down at the bite marks on his arm. “Oh, that was-”

“Doesn’t matter! Jesus fucking Christ!” Lance pulled on his shirt and looked through his bag. Keith just watched him curiously. Lance came back with a handful of tissues. He quickly pushed them against the wound. “Fucking hell… Did you have that when I walked in? I can’t believe I missed that… Fuck, I just told you to shut up and eat me… I’m sorry. I’ve been really tired lately. I’m sorry...”

Keith didn’t understand why Lance was so upset. “You don’t need to be sorry. Why do you feel so tired? Are you sick?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe? I don’t know… I’m not eating meat anymore, so that’s fun… I don’t have a strong grasp on iron and protein substitutes… I’d probably be faring better if I was eating meat but it tastes so bad to me now…”

“I’m sorry.” Said Keith quietly. “I… I don’t really know what to do…”

“Yeah, yeah… Anyway, not that important right now.” Lance dug through his bag again and took out a bandage. He wrapped Keith’s arm up and sighed. “Are you okay? Does your arm hurt?”

“Yeah, but it’s okay.” His arm did hurt, but he was just happy that Lance seemed to be less tired. “I’ll be fine after I eat something.”

“Oh, then eat me.”

“I’m not hungry at the moment. I’d need to eat a lot of meat and I don’t want to take that much from you right now since you seem to be so unwell right now.”

“... Keith.”

“Don’t you need to go back home now? It’s starting to get dark”

“... I guess.”

Keith smiled at him. “If you’re sick and can’t come to see me for a few days I don’t mind. I can find more of those deers to eat.”

“... Okay.” Lance stood up and stretched. “I’ll try and come over tomorrow if I don’t feel sick.” Lance grabbed his bag and quickly left. When he was gone Keith quickly realised that he didn’t get to ask Lance his questions. He felt a little sad about it, but he was okay with that.

Keith sat on his bed and awkwardly touched around the spot where Lance had been laying. He missed Lance already and he was worried about him. He didn’t want Lance to get sick. He wanted to make sure that Lance was okay. He sighed sadly and decided he needed to get some food in case Lance didn’t show up tomorrow.

He left the cabin and very quietly stalked through the forest. The sun had gone down by now and it was dark. The stars were out. Keith had been fascinated by the stars and the moon when he first escaped. Hell, he almost got caught because he stopped to look at them. The stars were pretty and the moon was like a dimmer version of the sun. Maybe it was the sun but someone turned the light off? Yet something else he needed to talk to Lance about. He had way too many questions about the world.

As he walked around the woods he was starting to get annoyed. Why? He couldn’t find any deer or big animals to eat. Not even a rabbit. Maybe they were all scared of him? It was annoying. He tried to stick low to the ground and down wind of anything he thought might be food, but he couldn’t find anything. It was depressing.

Suddenly the wind changed and Keith picked up a smell. It was delicious. It was human. The only human he had been around for the past few days was Lance, so this was nice. He probably shouldn’t do it, but he was hungry. 

Keith quickly darted off into the darkness to loop around to find the people he was smelling. It wasn’t that difficult. It seemed like human senses were pretty awful when it came to well, pretty much everything compared to him. He quickly found who he had smelled. Two people wearing all black were out. They were kind of dressed like the security back at that place. Apparently he didn’t kill them all on his way out. His mistake.

With a shudder he let his monster form slip through and climbed up the nearest tree to stalk them for a bit. They smelled really good and Keith wanted to bite their heads off right away, but he wanted to see what they were doing so far out and away from the building.

“Do you really think that we’ll find anything?” Muttered one of them.

“Who cares? It’s easy money.” Said the other.

“Yeah, whatever.” They continued to slowly make their way through the woods with Keith very carefully climbing through the trees. “What makes them think that this fucking monster is here anyway? Could have run away far over the mountains.”

“I know, but Honerva and Sendak seem convinced that it won’t leave the area.” Muttered the other. “The way they talk about it they make it sound like a salmon going back to the river it was born in to spawn. Or some other fucking animal.”

“Whatever...”

Keith found the conversation interesting and at the mention of Sendak he almost froze. That man was scary. Even a monster like him knew that making Sendak angry was a bad idea. He quickly shook his head and moved so he was right over the top of the two men. He dug his back feet into the tree trunk to anchor himself and slowly lowered himself down. Keith opened his mouth wide. As he did, thick globs of saliva flew from his maw and landed on the men below.

“What the fuck?” 

Before either of them could react, Keith bit down hard on the back of one man’s head. His jaw easily cut through the helmet and skull. As he did that he grabbed the face of the other man and squeezed until bits of brain, face, and other gooey bits oozed out between his fingers. Pleased with his hunt, Keith grabbed one of the bodies in his mouth, picked up the other and walked home with his food.

***

Shiro knew Adam was going to kick his ass. But if he was being honest, he needed to see Lance. He needed to make sure that Lance was okay and find out if he really did make contact with Keith. He knew what they said Lance had already made contact with Keith, but he needed to make sure. For his own piece of mind. 

He wasn’t waiting at the school. Just kind of a little down the street and away from everyone. He watched as the school bell rang and everyone started to leave. Shiro kept an eye out for Lance and it wasn’t too long before Shiro spotted him.

Lance was talking to a larger kid and a smaller person that he couldn’t really tell the gender of at this distance. They got onto a bus and Lance started to walk down the street. A car pulled up next to him and a dark skinned woman with white hair leaned out to talk to him about something. They talked for a few seconds before the car pulled away and Lance continued to walk down the street.

By the time he walked from the school entrance to the end of the school gate, Lance’s stride quickly went from confident to tired. It was odd. But it was the end of the year so seniors were probably going to be pretty tired. He followed Lance for a few blocks before he stood up and followed him on the other side of the street.

Eventually Lance headed to the park. He walked past the kids playing soccer, and more towards the woods. Should Shiro confront him now? Should he confront him after he gets to Keith? Probably best to talk to him before he met up with Keith.

He walked a little faster to catch up to him. “Excuse me?” He called.

Lance jumped a little in surprise and turned around. “Y-yeah?” The teen looked a lot more tired than Shiro thought. He was starting to get dark circles under his eyes and his eyes looked a little bloodshot.

Well, it was time for Shiro to get what he needed. “Yeah… I um… I’m working on the investigation. I work with one of the detectives you met. I think you met Adam before?”

“Yeah… I’ve met him briefly.” Said Lance quietly. He awkwardly shuffled from foot to foot and just looked around nervously. “So what? Do I need to go down to the station?”

“No, just a few questions.” Said Shiro. “Like, have you seen anyone strange recently? Do you go for walks in the forest often?

“...” Lance still looked nervous. He was glancing around, but when he saw his prosthetic arm he just froze. “What happened to your arm? What’s your name anyway?”

“My name is Takashi Shirogane. But you can just call me Shiro.”

“Shiro?” Apparently saying his name seemed to trigger something in Lance’s mind. He went from confused to scared in a matter of seconds. “I… I have to go… Go home… I… I have to…” Lance gripped the strap of his backpack tightly and started to run.

“Shit.” Shiro quickly ran after him. Lance wasn’t nearly as fast as he probably thought he was and Shiro caught up to him and grabbed him, quickly turning him around. Lance looked scared but Shiro didn’t want to do that. “Hey, calm down. I’m not trying to hurt you. You know Keith, don’t you? You’ve met him.”

“I…”

“You’re feeding him.”

“I-I’m not…”

“So you admit that you know him?”

“... Stay away from me!” He pulled himself away from Shiro, still looking scared. “You sure as hell aren’t part of the police! Don’t follow me! Leave me the fuck alone or I’ll call the police!”

“Wait! I… Look, I’m sorry. You clearly know who I am because Keith told you about me. You wouldn’t have acted the way you did if he didn’t… Look, I care about Keith a lot. He isn’t evil. He just… He’s an animal. He’s working on instinct. I don’t blame him for what he’s doing but he… He’s still dangerous. Just because you can regenerate your body when he eats you doesn’t mean that-”

“You know?!” Asked Lance in shock. This teen was a chaotic ball of emotions. He went from scared to pissed off in the blink of an eye. “How the fuck do you know?! … What did you guys do to me?!”

Shiro held his hands up. “Whoa, I didn’t do anything to you. I was just brought in on Project Pupa. I had nothing to do with the Generator experiments.”

“The what? What the fuck are you talking about.”

Shiro groaned in annoyance. “Look, it’s very complicated. I don’t know what everyone is planning, but this is really, really bad… You either have to convince Keith to get the fuck out of here or… Convince him not to fight.”

“What?”

Shiro sighed. “Look, as much as I hate to say it, Keith is government property… I’m pretty sure that we both know how crazy a government can be when it comes to their property. I worried about Keith. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but if Keith gets caught he’s more than likely going to get killed… There were rumours that he was nearing the end of his usefulness a month ago… And when test subjects are done being useful they get killed.”

“I see…” Lance looked confused. “But what about me? Why am I regenerating like this? I-”

“I don’t know all the details.” Said Shiro quickly. “I don’t know about what they did to you but I’ve already spoken too much. The point is they are tracking Keith down right now. They have a plan and they are probably executing it right now. Please be careful… I… I don’t want Keith to get hurt, but I don’t want him to hurt any more people...”

Lance looked conflicted. “I… I don’t…”

“... I’m sorry for dumping all of this on you.” Said Shiro. “You don’t deserve this. You’re just a kid. He-” Suddenly Shiro’s phone started to go off. He quickly grabbed it and looked at it. It was a message from Sendak demanding that he come back into the office right now. He looked up to say something to Lance, but the boy was already running away from him. He could only hope that Lance actually talked to Keith and either helped him escape or go back. He didn’t know what was worse at this point.


	11. Maternal instincts

Krolia had been over the files dozens of times before. She had been approached with the job title of “incubator” along with three other women in her division. Apparently she was both mentally and physically healthy enough to undergo the job if she so wished. 

One woman immediately backed out when she found out that here was a high chance that she would need a hysterectomy after giving birth. One woman was on the fence and after the second round of interviews she was deemed not fit to be a candidate. Krolia and the last woman went through several more interviews and were given access to the files concerning the first ten test subjects.

It was confronting. The first subject, AP was born on a petri dish. It was an amazing feat with an even more stunning growth rate. After the first few hours it was the size of a thumb nail and then it died. AP was the first attempt at hybridization and quickly influenced the rush to create BP, CP, and DP. BP and DP died in the womb. The unfortunate person carrying CP had to have a cesarean because the foetus had calcified. 

EP, FP, and GP were born with varying lengths of life. EP was alive for less than an hour after birth. FP for a month. GP for a week. Just because they were born didn’t mean that they were born healthy. All three children were riddled with deformities. It was too soon to tell if they were mental deformities, but it was obvious they were physical. They looked like the poor babies deformed by thalidomide.

HP-1 and IP-1 were fraternal twins. The first to physically show that they had a monster form. It was exciting for everyone, but the twins passed away soon after they showed their monster form at six years old.

The longest surviving experiment so far was JP-1. They were slightly premature due to complications with the mother. But JP-1 thrived and lived well into their teen years. Like the twins, JP-1 was able to morph into their monster form at the age of six. However their health rapidly declined and they died at sixteen.

Krolia, already being a member of Project Pupa, knew most of these things already. She assumed that this experiment would be called KP-1. She hummed a little and the thought of what it could be named. Maybe Keith if it was boy or Kira if it was a girl? Those were silly thoughts really. No one would call them that. She even expressed as such during her final interview before going in for IVF.

Once she had been successfully impregnated she was taken to an observation room that was repurposed to look more like a hospital room. It was kind of odd, but it did give her some comfort. She settled into the bed, noting the restraints hanging off the sides. It was a little unsettling, but it was necessary. The later stages of pregnancy could be… Disturbing.

A Pupa only needed to incubate for about six months before they were born, much faster than a human child. She didn’t mind. The sooner this was over with the better. This wasn’t her baby. Not really. It was just a means to an end. She just had to endure it.

The first month went along like a normal pregnancy for the most part; fatigue, swollen breasts, weight gain, headaches… all that good stuff. Doctors came in every day to check and make sure she and the foetus were alright. The only thing a little off putting was how quickly she swelled up and the sudden pork cravings she was getting. Luckily the doctors were more than happy to give her bacon and pork chops when asked for them.

By the end of the second month the doctors were able to get a proper ultrasound of the foetus and were excited to find out that K-P1 was going to be a boy. It was an exciting time for the doctors, but less exciting for Krolia. She didn’t really want to know the gender of her baby. She wanted as much distance between herself and the baby as possible.

The third month was when things started to go downhill for her. She started to get all kinds of horrible joint pains and terrible nightmares. Nightmares of something squirming and slithering around in her stomach. She would wake up in a cold sweat as she thought about the monster inside her stomach. In the middle of the night she could hear small whispers and couldn’t tell where they were coming from.

That was until she realized that she was hearing voices from the unborn creature growing in her womb. It wasn’t any concern of the doctors. This was apparently normal, but it would become more and more intense over the next few weeks. They were told it was important that if she started hearing louder and more destructive voices telling her to cause harm to herself or the foetus that she was to tell someone immediately.

By the fourth month she started clawing at her arms and was starting to regret everything. She shouldn’t have done this. She didn’t want to give birth to this thing. She wanted it out of her right now. She wanted to pull it out and throw it against the wall. She wanted it gone.

The doctors started using restraints during the fifth month and a nurse stayed with her in her room for the whole time. It was for the best. Krolia started to experience audio and visual hallucinations that were equivalent to a bad acid trip. She thrashed around a lot and screamed about the monster growing inside her stomach. She was vomiting quite violently in the morning and it looked like mud to her.

When the sixth month came along her whole body felt like it was on fire. She was crying every day and had to have an IV drip put in to keep her fluids up. When her water broke it looked like a mix of amniotic fluid and decaying period blood. Moments later she was getting prepped for a C-section.

It was a painful experience. They couldn’t give her painkillers at this point. The thing inside her was too good at filtering anything it deemed unnatural. Painkillers instantly filtered out of her body the moment they got put into her body. She was crying and screaming for them to get it out of her already.

As soon as she heard a weak cry she knew it was all over. It was out of her. Krolia panted heavily as she saw the doctors lifting the baby out of her. It was all slimy and gross. For a moment she felt a shred of maternal instinct and wanted to hold her baby, but then she saw its mouth. The baby's mouth was already filled with teeth. Not even human teeth. It had fangs and claws. That thing even opened its big, yellow eyes and looked at her. It reached for her. It was mocking her. 

All maternal instincts were extinguished. She was utterly repulsed and disgusted by that thing. It wasn’t a baby. It wasn’t her baby. She was in shock and probably yelled something at them about getting that thing away from her. She probably yelled at them to kill that thing too. They just took it away and stitched her back up.

***

Krolia shivered a little as she remembered that day. She hadn’t seen it again. They said that it wouldn’t be able to escape again. That he would stay locked up. She didn’t want anything to do with him, but yet here she was, out there in the middle of the forest with a loaded gun tucked into her pants.

She had gotten up at the crack of dawn and went looking for him. She knew he was around there. They were out there somewhere. She was going to kill him. It shouldn’t even still be alive. It had been alive for twenty years. Five years longer than the last one. 

It was about midmorning when Krolia had made her way to the lake. In the middle of the lake was an island that was owned by them. The facility on that island had been closed down years before she had been brought onto the project. She was pretty sure no one worked on the island anymore, but she wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few people still there.

As she walked around the lake she noticed a young man walking along the edge of the lake. He seemed surprised to see her and kind of awkwardly nodded at her. Krolia nodded back at him. 

“Morning.” She said. “Nice weather we’re having?”

The man nodded. “Yeah.”

She didn’t know why but there was something a little off about him. He just looked a little out of place.“... I’m sorry to bother you but I’m a little lost, can you help me get back to town?”

The man shrugged and pointed off in a direction. “The town is that way. There is a trail that a lot of people walk on. It should take you back to town.”

“Thanks… What are you doing out here anyway?”

“Just going for a walk.” Said the man. He seemed disinterested in what was going on around him, but at the same time he seemed a little on edge and uneasy. Maybe Krolia was just being paranoid? There was something wrong with him. She could just feel it in her bones. “Do you need someone to show you the way back?”

“Are you heading that way?” Asked Krolia.

“Not really, but I don’t mind helping people out. It might be nice for once.”

The two of them walked back around the lake closer to the town. Krolia couldn’t explain it, but the man seemed to give off a strange, creepy aura that she didn’t like. She felt like a rabbit walking alongside a wolf. A wolf ready to pounce on her and eat her at any second.

“So… What’s your name?” She asked. Her hands were itching to grab hold of her gun, just to feel a little safer. She knew she was just paranoid. She didn’t want to be this paranoid. Maybe she needed a drink? She should have bought a bottle of whiskey before she headed out. Krolia really needed to consider going to an A.A meeting when she went back to the city.

“Keith.” Said the man. “My name is Keith.”

“... Huh.” Wonderful. The weird man had the same name as the name she jokingly said she would name her child.

“Yeah… What’s your name?” Asked Keith.

“... Krolia.” She muttered. She took a few more steps before she realised that he wasn’t moving. She paused and looked over at him.

Keith smiled. “It’s nice to finally know what your name is… Mama.” Krolia froze. Keith was the thing that had grown inside her for six months. She had to admit he looked a lot more human than she expected. She slowly reached for her gun. “Is mama what I would be calling you?” Asked Keith. “Lance says mama. In my book it said mummy. I don’t really know what to call you.”

“How do you know I’m your mother?”

“Your smell.” Said Keith calmly. “You smell kind of like me but different. As soon as I got close to you I could smell you were different. Every human I have come across smells like food. You smell human, but not like food. It’s odd to me… But it’s a comforting scent. I haven’t smelled something like that for a long time. Maybe for a few minutes after I was born…? Are you like me? Are we monsters?”

He took a few steps towards her, but Krolia took care of that and quickly took her gun out, pointing that directly at him. “The only Monster here is you.”

Keith looked at the gun and then back up at Krolia. He didn’t look angry, sad, or anything like that. He just seemed resigned and accepting of the fact that Krolia wanted to kill him. “Okay.”

“What?”

“If you’re going to kill me then I’m not going to be upset with you.” Said Keith. “You can’t help it. Humans are pretty murderous. It’s human nature to murder everything they see.”

“... Is that what you think of humanity?”

“I have yet to be proven otherwise.” Said Keith quietly. “So, go ahead and kill me. That’s okay with me.”

Krolia suddenly became hesitant. “... You really want me to shoot you? … You’re a monster! You eat people! I know you do… The previous experiments did too.”

“I kill because I’m hungry.” Said Keith calmly. “Why do you kill? Because you hate me? Because you regret my existence? I don’t blame you… I regret being born too. But I’ve kind of just accepted the fact that I don’t get what I want. Ever. The time I have spent outside of that place has been a fluke. I try not to take my life for granted and I want to know how the world works, but I honestly don’t know what the rules are. So if mama’s killing their children is normal, then I can’t complain.” He walked a little closer to her with his eyes on her gun.

She pointed it at his forehead. “Don’t come any closer you bastard.”

“It’s okay.” He said softly. “You can shoot me… You know, it’s nice to finally be this close to you.”

“... Just fucking die already.” She pulled the trigger.

***

Lance got back to Keith’s cabin. He still felt sick, but what Shiro had said to him had really shaken him up. He didn’t know what to do. If he did nothing then Keith would stay and get caught. Probably killed too. If he somehow managed to convince him to leave then Keith would probably end up eating other people. It was scary. Would he have to go with him? He didn’t know if he could go with the monster to stop him from eating everyone else. 

He sighed and sat on the bed. For the first time since he started going to the cabin, Keith wasn’t there. It was weird. He lied down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. Keith seemed to have finally fixed the hole. He drummed his fingers against his stomach as he waited and waited.

That itchy feeling under his skin was creeping back again. He didn’t like it. He cuddled Keith’s pillow and buried his face into it. It smelled like Keith. It was an oddly comforting smell. It wasn’t sweet like the pheromone he made when he was hungry that made his mind go foggy. It was calming and soothing. He closed his eyes and let his body relax.

He closed his eyes and buried his face into the pillow. He could feel that weird itching, crawling feeling under his skin. He wanted Keith to just come back and eat him already. Fuck, that would have been weird to think about two weeks ago. He wanted Keith to eat him to make that weird feeling under his skin go away.

He heard the cabin door open and felt the mattress dip behind him. An arm wrapped around him and he felt someone press their head against his back. Seeing the arm mixed with Keith’s natural scent. He was going to say something when Keith started to talk.

“I met my mama today.” He said quietly. “She called me a monster and tried to kill me… Humans are very… You’re a lot more murderous than I thought you would be. You never mentioned that your mama hurt you so I thought that she might… But then again you’re human so it might be normal? I don’t know.”

Lance didn’t know what to do. Should he try and comfort Keith? But Keith was talking now. Did he think that he was asleep? He didn’t know. How the hell did Keith meet his mum? What the hell was going on? It was so confusing.

“There’s so many things that I don’t know… I don’t know how to ask you for help. You’ve already given me your body, I don’t feel comfortable enough to ask you for anything more… Are human families full of hurt? I… damn it, I don’t even know what is going on with me anymore… I can’t even have a family even if I wanted one… I don’t want a family if I’m meant to hurt them…” He sniffled a little. “I wish I was dead…”

Yeah, Lance couldn’t stay quiet anymore. He squeezed Keith’s hand and turned his head to look at him. Though it was a little hard to do when Keith’s arm was pressed against his side. So all he could really see was some of Keith’s hair. 

“Keith? Are you okay?”

“You’re awake?”

“Yeah… Um, why do you wish you were dead?”

“No one wants me around.” Said Keith quietly. “Every human around me is afraid of me. You’re only here because I make some stupid pheromones that I can’t control that makes you all submissive. You don’t actually want to be around me. My mama tried to kill me.”

“How did she find you?” Asked Lance. “How do you know it was your mama?”

“My mama… She has a very distinct smell.” Said Keith calmly. “I only smelled it when I was really, really little. It smelled really nice and made me feel safe. When I met her she didn’t instantly smell like food and made my mouth water. When I got closer she smelled like her. When I mentioned it she kind of confirmed that she was my mama. She tried to kill me.”

“... Did you kill her?” Asked Lance quietly.

“No.” Said Keith quietly. “I pushed her down a hill and ran away when she shot me.”

“What?! She shot you?!” Lance pushed Keith’s arm away and turned to look at Keith. There was a large gash in the side of his face. It looked like someone had ripped away the skin on the left side of his face. The purple muddy flesh under his skin. The teeth set in his jaw in his monster form were jutting out of his face and looked like someone had smashed jagged glass into his face. Even his left eye looked swelled, bloodshot, and a sickly yellow. “Keith…”

He reached out but Keith quickly moved away. “Wish she could have shot straight. I was right in front of her. She could have just shot me in the head and I’d be… Fuck, I don’t even know. So now I’m like this…”

“... Do you need to eat more of me to get better faster?” Asked Lance. He wasn’t sure how Keith’s body worked, but he wanted to help him.

“I… I don’t know. You haven’t been very well lately. I don’t want to take more from you than I can.” Said Keith quietly. He looked very guilty. He couldn’t even look Lance in the face. 

Lance couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Keith’s whole life had been one disappointment after another. He’d just been used his whole life. Did Keith even know what it felt like to be loved or at least cared for? Fuck it. Despite the fact Keith needed to eat meat and had a craving for humans, he was nice. He shouldn’t have been nice after being abused so much. 

“... Keith. I have something to tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“I ran into Shiro.” Said Lance quietly. “He said that the people that were looking after you before are trying to find you now… You either need to leave the area or let them take you back.”

“Will you come with me?” Asked Keith suddenly. He looked hopeful for a moment before the reality of what he just asked kind of sank in. “N-never mind… I’ll um. I’ll just go.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have asked. Just because I can just leave doesn’t mean you can… I’m going to miss you.” Said Keith quietly.

“You need to eat something before you go, right?” Asked Lance, almost hopefully. “You can still eat me. I-I don’t mind you eating me.”

“I… I wouldn’t mind but you haven’t been feeling well, have you? I don’t want you to feel forced.”

Lance smiled at him and gently cupped his face. “Keith, I don’t mind. You’re not forcing me… It’s nice to be needed for once.”

“Yeah… I’m not going to eat you.” Said Keith quietly. He got up and walked over to the side of the cabin and pulled open a hatch in the floor. “I have food in here.”

Lance should have felt relief, but he felt disappointment instead. “Another deer?”

“No. People.”

“What?”

Keith shrugged. They were dressed like the people that walked around the place with their hands on their guns. I assumed they worked with them so I killed them and I’m eating them.”

“Oh… Okay…”

“Yeah. I’ll finish eating them and leave… I’ll just stay somewhere in the mountains. There aren’t a lot of humans in the mountains, right?”

“No… You should be fine in the mountains but you won’t have a lot of food.”

“It’ll be okay.” Said Keith quietly. “I’ll make do with what I have… I always do.”

“Keith…”

“Thank you for warning me. I really appreciate it.” Said Keith quietly. “I’ll um… I won’t bother you anymore. Thank you for feeding me for so long. You know the way back.”

“... Are you going to go now?”

“After I finish eating… Bye Lance.”

“... Bye Keith.” Lance didn’t want to leave right now. He wanted Keith to eat him. Even if it was just a little bit. He left the cabin and couldn’t help but feel like he had been dumped. Which was dumb. He was being set free, right? Keith was just going to eat the meat that he had caught and then run away… He felt sick. He felt rejected. He felt empty. He felt… rejected.

He sniffled a little as he walked back home. It was stupid. Just stupid. Lance should be happy that this was over for him, but he wasn’t. He didn’t understand. He wanted Keith to want and need him, but he had other bodies to eat other than him. Didn’t Keith say that he tasted the best? He was eating other people. He hated it. He really hated it. Lance hated how much it felt like he was jealous and how much it felt like Keith was cheating on him.

He stopped for a moment to rub his eyes. “Stop it.” He muttered to himself. “This means nothing… This was just a thing that happened. You were just convenient for him. That’s all… Fuck.” 

He heard a branch snap and Lance quickly looked around. He was half hoping that Keith had come after him, but there was nothing. It was just forest noises. He went to keep walking when he noticed a few bright red dots on his shirt. It wasn’t blood. They were laser dots.

“... Shit!” Cursed Lance seconds before he got shot with a tranquilizer dart. It was very powerful. Lance blacked out before he hit the ground.

***

Honerva hummed happily as she called up Dr Benita Martinez to update her on the news. She had gotten several excited updates over the past hour. Honestly, she wasn’t expecting them to catch the Generator. She had only offhandedly mentioned it to the main meat head that if they could capture the Generator she would increase their pay by 10%.

“Dr Martinez.” She said. “Exciting news.”

_“Unless this is really groundbreaking than I have other things to tend to. I still have a week before I have to come back.”_

“We managed to catch a Generator.”

_“You did what?”_

“What’s wrong? I thought you would have been happy to have it?” Asked Honerva. She couldn’t help herself from grinning. This was exciting research material. “K-P1 has been feeding off them for days. What kind of physical and psychological effects has it had on him? It’s amazing. Perhaps it will start to show separation anxiety like the rats did? Maybe they will start to grow more flesh that we will need to cut off before it becomes some horrible cancerous growth that-”

_“That’s enough… I don’t want to hear any more of that…”_

Honerva sighed. “Look, I understand that you don’t… That you have your own reasons for not wanting this but… Well, you did sign on the dotted line. They wouldn’t have cared if the twins were both girls but-”

_“I know. You don’t need to keep reminding me… I’ve had to live with that guilt for 18 years…”_

“I know… I’m a mother too.” Said Honerva quietly. “Speaking of, the bullshit bureaucracy finally got around to fixing your name tag. It finally came in. I put it on your desk.”

_“Thank you… Please don’t touch Lance until I get there… I’ll be there within the hour.”_

“Of course. See you soon Dr Martinez, or should I say… Dr McClain.”


	12. Gone Boy

Things were getting weird at school. Lance had been absent for three days and his friends were really worried. They had first assumed that Lance might have done something stupid and sprained his ankle again, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Lance would have texted them if something was wrong.

Eventually Pidge, Allura, and Hunk went to confront Rachel and get some answers. She didn’t seem surprised when they managed to catch her after school. She was waiting in the drop off area for her older sister, Veronica, to pick her up.

“This is about Lance, isn’t it?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Said Pidge. “Where is he?”

“Did he hurt himself again?” Asked Hunk.

Rachel frowned and awkwardly looked down at the ground. “Look… I don’t really want to talk about it… I… Fuck, it shouldn’t have happened.” She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. “This is all really, really fucked up…”

Allura frowned and put her hand on her shoulder. “Rachel. It’s okay. You can tell us. What happened?”

“I… I don’t want this to spread around but…” Rachel gestured for them to come closer and she whispered to them. “Lance tried to commit suicide.” His friends were shocked. Rachel just shrugged. “I guess… I guess he just couldn’t take it anymore… After seeing… It really fucked with his head more than we thought. He got taken to some hospital for observation in the next town over. He was on suicide watch, but they are a lot more careful with him because of his CIPA… They are keeping him under observation for a week and then if the doctors say he’s able to, then we can visit him...”

Hunk looked like he was going to cry. “Oh my god… that’s horrible… I am so, so sorry…”

“W-what did he do?” Asked Pidge quietly. “Like, if it isn’t too…”

“I don’t know all the details but he apparently went to the woods and tried to kill himself right where those people were…” Rachel was trying very hard to keep herself together. “I… I’m his twin… I should have noticed something was wrong with him. I saw signs but ignored them.”

“You can’t blame yourself.” Said Allura. “No one can-”

“But he was acting so weird!” Snapped Rachel. “Lance was so quiet. He’s been so tired lately… But he still left the house for hours and didn’t come back until… And when he came back he always looked tired, and I swear I saw he had blood on his shirt one time when he came back… I… I think he was contemplating doing this for a few days...”

Allura pulled her into a hug and tried her best to soothe her. “It’s okay Rachel… I’m sure Lance will be okay. Just let the doctors take care of him… He’ll be okay.”

“Let us know when he can have visitors.” Said Hunk. “We’ll go and see him.”

As their friends were comforting Rachel something just didn’t seem to sit right with Pidge. Lance was a lot of things, but suicidal wasn’t one of them. He was generally a happy guy that was just going through some stuff. It wasn’t that bad that he wouldn’t talk to them though, right? They wanted to check the woods near Lance’s house.

Veronica pulled up and Rachel got into the car. When she was gone the three friends just looked at each other. They were confused and upset. “I don’t buy it.” Said Pidge. “Lance was a little fucked up, but he wasn’t suicidal fucked up.”

“How would you know?” Asked Hunk. “He hasn’t been hanging out with us after school… At least not since… We should have pushed to hang out with him more.” He muttered.

Pidge frowned and crossed her arms. “Yeah… Well, I’m going to look around the woods.”

“Why?” Asked Allura.

“If Lance really was going to kill himself he probably left something out there somewhere.” Said Pidge. “Probably something in a tin or buried somewhere.”

“Really?” Asked Allura.

Pidge shrugged. “This whole thing feels odd, so I am going to look. You guys don’t have to, but I am.”

Their friends seemed very hesitant, but reluctantly agreed. The group headed to the woods. They didn’t really know what they were looking for, but Pidge knew it was out there somewhere. Lance would have at least tried to say goodbye to them before he… It was all too fishy and they didn’t like it at all.

“There isn’t much out here.” Said Allura quietly. “If he buried something for someone to find wouldn’t it be closer to his house?”

Hunk shrugged. “Maybe? If he was thinking rationally… He might not have been thinking too clearly if…”

They three continued to look around. Allura found a trail. Possibly made by an animal and followed it for a bit. A little over the horizon they spotted the roof of an old hunting shack. Many of the ones in this area had been abandoned because they were too close to the town to hunt safely, or for big game to come around anymore during hunting season. Pidge approached the shack. 

“What are you doing?” Asked Hunk.

“Checking to see if someone’s living here.” Said Pidge. There wasn’t a light on inside at first glance, and the roof looked like it had a terrible patchwork job trying to fix it. They put their hand on the door and gave it a light tug to see if it would open. It did. It was unlocked.

“What are you doing?” Asked Allura. “We shouldn’t go in there.”

“Relax, it looks abandoned.” Said Pidge. They opened the door and immediately cringed. It smelled stale and kind of like something died in there. To be fair a raccoon probably did die in there. It was pretty old. 

As their eyes adjusted to the light they saw some antlers on the table. They looked around a little and eventually their eyes adjusted enough to notice the dark red, almost brown smears on the ground. Hunk and Allura followed them in and Allura let out a scream. 

“The-the bed!” She said as she pointed a finger at it. Hunk and Pidge looked over at it. The mattress was completely drenched in blood. Dark brown and reddish brown. Hunk looked a little concerned but Allura and Pidge shared a knowing look.

“What is that?” Asked Hunk.

“Blood.” Said Allura. “It’s dried blood.”

“How do you know?” He asked quietly.

Allura shook her head. “I’m a girl Hunk, and Pidge is bound by female biology. We know what dried blood looks like.”

“... Right.” Muttered Hunk. “That’s… That’s a lot of blood… M-maybe someone had some trouble with an animal or something?”

“Who guts an animal on a mattress?” Asked Pidge. She continued to look around and found a hatch in the floor. It looked like there were some bloody handprints on it, and some footprints leading away from it. It made Pidge a little uneasy. They turned the light on their phone and opened it. The smell of rot was a lot stronger there and a few flies managed to fly out.

Both Hunk and Allura gagged when they smelled it. It was disgusting. None of them really wanted to go down there and kind of shared a look that maybe they shouldn’t be there. “We should leave… Maybe call the police or tell someone? Aren’t there meant to be park rangers around here or something?”

“Maybe…” Muttered Pidge. They were about to close the hatch when they noticed something on one of the steps. They frowned slightly and focused their eyes on it. When they realised what it was they almost dropped their phone. It was a finger. A human finger. They quickly slammed the hatch shut. “Police. Definitely police. We need to leave now. Not touch anything and leave.”

“What? Why?” Asked Allura.

“I think someone was killed here…”

“...” Hunk threw his hands up and walked out the door. “Alright. We just go out and try to see if Lance left anything for us about his suicide attempt, but we find a crime scene instead. Perfect!”

***

Lance had been drifting in and out of sleep for who knows how long. He sure didn’t. Lance constantly felt dizzy and nauseous. He tried opening his eyes but they felt heavy. He didn’t know where he was, but at least he was comfortable.

He still felt like crap. He could kind of hear people talking around him and every now and then he felt something pressing against his skin in different places. Sometimes it felt like tugging and pulling. Maybe ripping and tearing? He couldn’t tell anymore. 

Slowly things were becoming less foggy and he could almost hear people talking. He could almost remember their conversation. One of them was definitely Honerva, his doctor. The other was some unknown man. Was he in the hospital? Why was he here again?

“His body is quite remarkable.” Said Honerva calmly. “His body heals very quickly when we cut into him, but that speed is practically instantaneous when we use that extract made from K-P2’s saliva. It’s essentially the active ingredient.”

“Not surprised.” Said the man. He chuckled darkly. “So our little monster has just been eating him for days and he doesn’t even have a single scratch on him? Let’s try baiting him.”

“How?”

“Get me a hatchet and a bucket. I’ll turn him into chum.”

“Sendak, you can’t do that.” She said in a rather uninterested tone. “Lance is part of our project. Not yours… I’ll run it by our lead and see what she says. She’s rather distressed that Lance is here and the cover story we had to use. Said it’s doing a number on his siblings. They will all want to see him soon.”

“Well that’s her fault.” Said Sendak. “She’s the one that was stupid enough to sign the contract. She knew that she might have to give up one of her kids. Bitch should have used a condom or birth control if she didn’t want this to happen. Fucking stupid woman.”

“Wow, tell us all how you really feel.” Muttered Honerva. “So you’re what now? A racist and sexist?”

“How am I racist?”

“You called the cleaning lady Ching Chong. Her name is Anna.”

“... Yeah, okay. Fair enough.” Muttered Sendak. “Anyway, I guess you’re happy about how this all turned out anyway. If one of her twins didn’t turn out to be a boy it would have been your brat on the chopping block.”

“... Yes.”

“You fuckers were the ones that said you needed a male. I would have been perfectly fine if it was a girl. I would have loved to have seen what the result of a pupa and a generator having a baby would be. It would be a whole new species.” He chuckled. “Probably would be more stable then the current one.”

“Probably.” Muttered Honerva. Lance felt something press into his arm. “Okay. All done. I’m going to go and get this tested… Don’t abuse him while I’m gone… In fact, come out here with me.”

“What do you think I’m going to do? Fuck the drugged out freak?”

“I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“Hey, I am an asshole but I’m not that much of an asshole.” The two of them continued to talk and argue as they left the room. Lance tried to process everything that just happened. He didn’t really understand what was happening. Why were they talking about his mama like she was working for them? Wasn’t he at a hospital? Maybe? No… No he wasn’t at a hospital… He had no idea what was going on and at this point he was too drugged up to try and figure it out.

***

Keith didn’t really know where to go now. He didn’t know where he would be safe. Was it even possible for him to be safe? Lance had said that humans were everywhere on earth. While that was kind of good in a sense that he wouldn’t need to hunt too hard for his food, it meant that they might band together and hunt him down. He just wanted to be left alone.

He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. He wished that Lance was with him. He wished that someone was with him. Being alone was… lonely. Maybe if he could keep his cravings for human flesh down he could make friends with humans? He’d really like that. Being alone was… lonely… He missed Lance.

Keith sighed a little more and continued to wander aimlessly around the woods. He avoided the places where he could smell humans. He made his way back to the lake where that island was. He shrugged it off and headed back into the woods. He ended up walking around and eventually making his way back to the lake’s edge. 

Maybe he wanted to go to the island? Was something drawing him there? He didn’t know. Maybe he should just give up trying to be human and just follow his instincts? Go where his body told him he wanted to go? Apparently his body wanted him to go to the island. How the hell would he get there? He didn’t think he could swim there. It was annoying.

The wind suddenly changed and Keith smelled something familiar. He quickly turned his head and saw him. “Shiro!” Keith was immediately happy, but at the same time he was a little hesitant. Especially when he saw his fake arm. “Shiro…”

Shiro smiled nervously at him. “Hey… You’re very hard to track down.”

“Yeah… Are you here to take me back?”

“No…” He stood by him and looked out to the island. “Did Lance tell you that you needed to leave the area?”

“I’m going to the island.”

“But why? You need to get out of here and away from-”

“I know.” Said Keith calmly. “But I need to go to the island. I don’t know… It’s calling me. I need to go there…”

“Oh… So your home…” Muttered Shiro.

“Home?”

“When certain animal species are pregnant or ready to have children they return to the place they are born.” Said Shiro. “Like turtles or salmon. They always return… home… To breed…” He looked over at Keith with a worried look. “Keith… You are an adult now. Right?”

Keith frowned and looked down at himself. “I… I don’t know… I assume I am? I mean, I look like I am an adult?”

“Keith, we have no idea what you really are. We only assumed you’re an adult now because you’re physically an adult by humans standards… But you could still just be a teenager about to become an adult.” Said Shiro. “There is a chance your body might still change and become something else…”

“I guess I could…” Muttered Keith as he looked down at his hands. “Maybe when I become an adult I won’t feel the need to eat human flesh anymore?”

“There’s hope… They have Lance.”

“What?”

Shiro sighed. “Lance. The person you have been feeding off. They caught him the other day and… Sendak has been talking about baiting the woods with his flesh to lure you out.” Said Shiro quietly. “He wants to chop Lance up and put his parts in random places to see if you will come by and eat them…”

“That’s…” Keith sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

“I… I don’t know.” Muttered Shiro. “I just thought you should know… They are going to cut him open. It’s… They know he doesn’t feel pain anymore. He can’t feel pain, but he’s been sedated. Honerva wants to see how long until his body won’t heal itself anymore.”

“They want to kill him?” Questioned Keith. He didn’t want Lance to die. Lance had always been nice to him. Always willingly gave himself to him and tried to make sure he was well fed. But now they had him. They were going to hurt him. Lance didn’t deserve to get hurt. He didn’t want Lance to get hurt. He liked having Lance around for more than just eating him. He liked talking to Lance and learning things from him. Being with Lance made him happy. He hoped that Lance liked being with him. Lance didn’t deserve to be locked up anywhere and taken advantage of.

“I don’t think they want to kill him, but he will die eventually.” Said Shiro quietly. “This isn’t what I signed up for. I never signed up for this. I signed up to look at cave bugs. Not… Not all this fucked up human testing bullshit.”

Keith nodded and thought this over. “Shiro… I’m guessing you don’t want Lance to stay there?”

“Clearly.”

“... If you can get me a way to that island I’ll get Lance out.”

“Really?’

“Yeah, lots of people are going to die though.” Warned Keith. “I’m not exactly subtle…”

“I know. But honestly? At least you make it quick.”

Keith sighed. He knew how awful that place was and he didn’t want Lance to be forced to live in those conditions. “Yeah… I’ll get him out. But remember, I want the boat.”

“Deal.”

“Yeah… And Shiro?”

“Hmm?”

“Sorry I ate your arm…” 

He meant it too. It was an accident. Shiro had advocated for him to be able to talk to him without the huge plastic partition in the way. It just so happened that the day they allowed this to happen Keith was on week three of forced starvation. He was pretty sure it wasn’t a coincidence at this point. Either way, Keith was starving and he needed food. Shiro was right there and he needed it. He didn’t want Shiro to die, so at the last second he moved his head and ripped off his fucking arm. He managed to run off to a corner of the room to eat it while Shiro managed to get out and get medical help.

“It’s okay.” Said Shiro. “I’m starting to think Sendak wanted me dead.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, but enough about that.” Said Shiro. “I’ll get you a boat to get to the island. You doing this tonight?”

“Yeah. Tonight.”


	13. The Facility

Insects had never really been Honerva’s cup of tea. She was more into biochemistry. That was her wheelhouse. However, she did have a side interest in diseases and parasites that infect insects. She couldn’t help it. She had been fascinated ever since she saw a whipworm violently escape out of a cricket’s body. It was disgusting, but fascinating. 

Eventually her profession and personal interests led her down the path to where she was now… Working alongside some sadistic asshole that was currently carving chunks of meat off of the Generator’s body. Lance’s body. He had to dip the knife in an enzyme solution to promote cell growth in his body. 

It was an interesting experiment, and had approval from the higher ups. Lance’s mother did protest, but she was overruled and Sendak was more than happy to personally do this. He could rip into Lance over and over again and he wouldn’t die. His body was repairing itself too quickly.

“Don’t you have enough meat yet?” She asked.

“Why? He’s too drugged up to give a fuck.”

“You have more than enough meat to fill a room. You’re just being sadistic now.”

“... Whatever.” Sendak hacked off a bit more thigh meat and dropped it off into a bucket. “There. I’m done.” He grabbed his bucket and left.

Honerva rolled her eyes and looked over at Lance. The meat on his leg was almost completely healed already. His body was truly a work of wonder. It was something she could study for hours. When he had healed, Honerva checked his vital signs and was pleased to see that everything was fine.

She left Lance in the hands of capable nurses and doctors that were watching over him and headed back to their laboratory several floors above where Lance was being housed. She wasn’t surprised to see Benita hunched over a microscope with dozens of sample slides on one side and a pen in her other hand as she scribbled things down into her notepad.

“... How are you holding up?” She asked.

Benita didn’t bother looking up at her. “My son is drugged out of his mind getting his muscles carved off his body like it’s nothing… I bet if that sadist was allowed to he’d stick Lance up on a meat hook and carve away.”

“He probably would.” Muttered Honerva. “Sendak is an asshole… How is your family? Do they still believe that Lance is…?”

“Yes. They all still think he tried to commit suicide.” She muttered. “Do you have any idea how heartbreaking that was? Rachel was crying all night when I had to tell her. Everyone has been so upset and worried about him. My husband is stressed and a lot more distant now. Everyone wants to see him back home again…”

“Yeah…” Muttered Honerva. She sighed and shook her head. “What are you going to do when they want to visit him? There’s only so much we can do. Lance is staying here indefinitely now and-”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Snapped Benita. She glared at Honerva with tears running down her cheeks. “I’m going to have to lie and say that he killed himself… It’s going to crush everyone… I… I’m an unfit mother… How could I just allow this-?”

“The contract.” Said Honerva calmly. “You signed the contract. You know that it has an addendum that if required, any children conceived while working on the project could be used as material if required. We all knew that any boys conceived would be used for the project. It was just a fluke that you ended up with fraternal twins and not two girls like you expected… I would have to have given up Lotor if…” She sighed. “This is going to sound cruel, but you can’t think of him as your son anymore. He’s research material.”

“I know… I know…” She sniffled a little and wiped her tears away. “Can you have a look at this sample? It’s a little strange. I think the enzymes we’re dipping the blades in are tainting the samples.”

“Hmm? How so?” Honerva looked at the sample under the microscope and was a little surprised to see the way the cells interacted. It was very similar to the cells in K-P1’s body. It was interesting. She hadn’t been able to get many samples from Lance during the time period he was with Sendak’s monster. “Hmm, well he has been getting eaten a lot… Maybe his body is evolving because of all the damage it’s taking?”

“I sure hope not…” Muttered Benita. “Remember the rats? They swelled insize with almost cancerous growths all over their bodies…”

“To be fair I think that’s part of the fungus we created this from in the first place.” She said. “... Though we should probably consider getting a pure sample to compare it too. We’re almost out of that fungus.”

“You think that will get approved?”

“If Sendak can get approval to fill several tubs full of chunks of your son’s meat and organs, I think they will allow us to get a mushroom.”

“Yeah…” She sighed and stood up. “Fuck it. I’m stressed. I’m going out for a smoke.”

“I thought you quit when you got pregnant with your twins?”

She shrugged and got up from the desk. “I don’t care. I’m a shitty human. If Lance ever finds out what I’ve done he’ll never forgive me…” She walked past her and left the room for a smoke break.

Honerva shook her head. Benita had a big heart and was very worried when she found out she was pregnant. Hell, Honerva knew that fear. They had fallen pregnant around the same time and neither of them were really keen in having a boy. When Honerv found out she was having a boy everyone instantly sympathised with her. They all knew what that meant for the baby. Benita was told that one of her babies was a girl, but it was hard to tell the gender of her second child because of the way they were scrunched up. Everyone assumed Honerva would have to give up her baby.

Then Benita’s baby moved. They were male. A boy and a girl. Both instantly became filled with dread since it was now a race to see who would give birth first. The stress of it all caused Benita to go into labour a week earlier than her predicted due date. She had been racked with guilt ever since. She knew some of the side effects their drug would have on a mammal. She was still upset that her son’s pain receptors were completely destroyed. But it was all part of their failsafe. Just in case the Pupa escaped. If the Pupa never escaped then Lance would have lived a relatively normal life, minus feeling pain. Something that could be passed off as CIPA.

She looked down at Benita’s notes. The poor woman’s notes were all scribbly and stained with some tears. She was really upset and torn about everything… But Benita needed to put that aside. They were making breakthroughs. They needed to do this.

Though Honerva was very interested in how Lance’s body was changing. They had made many generators before, but Lance was the first human one. She was kind of hopeful that Lance would start to change and mutate into something else. That would be beautiful.

***

Benita made it to the smoking area outside and stood in the blind spot. It was dusk. She didn’t need more people seeing her cry her eyes out. She was a failure. She tried so hard to protect Lance. When she found out that the experiment had escaped she couldn’t help but be more protective of Lance that day. She assumed he would come home straight away, like usual. but when he was taken to the hospital… She knew this was the beginning of the end.

She had to stand back and report what Lance was doing. She noted his more reclusive nature, his sudden aversion to meat, and how he was lying about hanging out with his friends after school. She noted that the meat eating might be psychological in nature since no other animals seemed to change their dietary habits. He was slowly becoming more sickly. She didn’t know why. She wanted to cry.

She heard something crumble and something that felt like small rocks fell on her head. She dusted some dirt off her shoulder, when she heard a deep rumbling above her. “Don’t look up.” They warned. 

Benita froze as a chill ran up her spine. She had a good idea of what was above her. She almost wanted to laugh. From all the small experiments they had done with rats, the Generator’s and Pupa couldn’t be separated once they had found each other. If she died now she would deserve it.

“You’re Lance’s mama.” Said the creature quietly. “I know. You smell a bit like him. You have the scent of a mother. His mother.”

“Y-yes.” She said quietly. “Lance is my son…”

“I want him back.”

“I know. It’s in your nature.” Said Benita.

“My nature?”

‘Yes.” She said quietly. “I don’t know much about you, but I know enough. You ate my son’s flesh. The DNA that makes up most of your body can eat anything organic to survive, but your natural food source, the thing that you’re naturally meant to eat… Lance’s body is full of it. It floods your body with endorphins and opiorphin. You’re addicted to eating him already and you don’t even know it.”

“... I still want Lance.” They said. “He has been nice to me and I don’t want him to get hurt in this place… I know mother’s hurt their children but I-”

“Mother’s don’t hurt their children.” Said Benita. “A mother loves and protects their child.”

“... Oh… I guess she just hates me…” They sighed. “Anyway, I’m here for Lance. Where is he?”

“I’m not handing my child over to you.” She said calmly. “I might not have been a good mother, but I won’t let you feed off of him for the rest of his life.”

“I’m not trying to hurt him.” They said. “I cared for him as much as he cared for me… I made sure he was comfortable. I asked if I could eat him before I did. Lance is so nice. He made sure I wasn’t hungry and I… I left so that he didn’t have to live with me eating him anymore. I’m a monster. I want Lance to be happy. He can’t be happy if he is here, right?”

“... He’s been drugged out of his mind. With the way his body is working I wouldn’t be surprised if it will eventually stop working as his body just rapidly repairs itself and filters any medication we give him…” She confessed. “He’s going to realise where he is soon and he’s… He’s going to hate me… Are you going to kill me?”

The monster above her was quiet. “No. Lance said he has many brothers and sisters. I don’t feel right about killing you… I think he really loves you.”

“If he knew the truth he wouldn’t…” She muttered.

“I still want Lance.”

“If you do this they will hunt you both down.”

“I’ll protect him.” They said sternly. “I’ll protect him from them. We will go somewhere safe.”

Benita frowned. She didn’t know what to do. She shouldn’t get Lance out of there no matter how hard she tried. She’d get into trouble and she didn’t know what they would do to her, or Lance. This monster was her best chance at freeing her son.

“... He’s being kept on the same floor where they kept you. Please, take him away from this place… And tell him I’m sorry I couldn’t protect him.”

“Okay… stay outside. The last time I was here I didn’t discriminate who I killed.” She heard the monster slowly climbing back up the building.

When things became quiet she looked up. There were claw marks all over the side of the building. It seemed like the monster was going to go through the ventilation system. It was amazing, the Pupa was surprisingly soft and malleable. It could wriggle and squeeze into most places like a worm. It reminded her of most insect larvae. They were always much softer and much bigger than their adult counterpart. She wondered if the pupa was actually just a pupa and soon going to become an adult… and if it became an adult, what would its final form be?

***

The drugs had pretty much worn off by now and Lance had no idea what to do. He was too scared to try and move. If he did, he didn’t know what would happen. He didn’t know where he was or what would happen to him if he showed that he was conscious. 

There was an odd tingling sensation in his legs. He already knew it was from whatever that Sendak guy was doing to him. Yeah, he knew Sendak was taking flesh off his legs, but he didn’t really care. The meat on his legs was growing back rapidly and he didn’t feel any pain, so it was whatever. However his legs were tingling. It was uncomfortable.

He felt like he was probably being monitored, but his legs just felt weird. When he couldn’t take it anymore he reluctantly sat up and went to scratch at his legs. He knew he shouldn’t be feeling itchy. He didn’t really have the nerve endings to feel itching or pain at all.

He looked down at his legs and froze slightly. Sure his legs did look like human legs, but they didn’t look exactly normal. There was something just a little off about them. Were they… Maybe there was some weird muscle definition going on? He wasn’t sure.

Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. What was he meant to do now? How the hell was he meant to escape? Could he even escape? … Actually, did he even have pants? He slipped his hand under the thin, hospital grade sheets and found that he was just wearing a hospital gown. No pants or underwear. Perfect.

He sighed and lied back down. This was just not his day. Fuck, this was not his week. He shivered as that weird tingling, itching sensation slowly starting to creep up his spine and settle between his shoulder blades and the back of his neck.

He couldn’t help it. He needed to scratch. He dug his nails into the back of his neck and started to scratch to try and relieve that itch. It didn’t really help much. He needed more relief. He didn’t understand why he wasn’t getting relief. It sucked.

“Need help there?” Asked Honerva.

Lance jumped a little when he saw her standing by the doorway. She was smiling kindly at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. They were cold. Then again Lance’s head was still a little groggy from the drugs that were still getting pumped into his body.

“... Why am I here?” He muttered.

Honerva shrugged. “Well, if you want an honest answer… You’re a failed experiment. To simplify everything, you were given an experimental drug since you were a baby. It fried your pain receptors and gave you the appearance of CIPA.”

“... So, what? Why am I here? Why did you do this to me?”

She sighed and walked over to him. “Well, you’re a failsafe. In the case that the pupa escapes you’re meant to make him slow down enough so we can capture him. You didn’t capture him. You actually gave us some interesting results. We expected that K-P1 would keep you wherever they were living after the second time you two met up. We kind of expected that K-P1 would find a way to keep you in place while he fed on you… It’s surprising that he decided to let you go, and even more surprising that you would keep going back to him. Why is that?”

Lance frowned slightly and nervously played with his IV drip. “I… I don’t know… he just… Keith makes pheromones when he’s hungry. I can smell when he’s hungry and I… I go to him and I can’t resist him.”

Honerva seemed a little surprised. “Interesting, so it really is pheromones… Well, that confirms that theory… Tell me, what part of you does he eat?”

“...”

“... Done talking for now huh?” Asked Honerva, when she didn’t get a response she walked over to him and took out his IV drip. “No point in keeping this in. Your body is metabolising everything we are giving you way too quickly. We’ll come back and give you something to eat. Your body is metabolising everything extremely quickly. We’re going to put you on a diet of slow burning foods along with foods with high protein and fats.”

“Okay…”

Honerva sighed and crossed her arms. “Look, I know you’re not happy about this, but you being part of this experiment was decided long before you were conceived. All the women that work on project pupa or the enzyme experiment have to sign wavers… Sometimes we need human test subjects, and it’s easier to grow our own then try to source them from other places. More ethical.”

Lance nodded along, his head was still foggy and the weird itching sensation moved to his gums. “So… So my mama…”

“Is the lead for the sister experiment to Project Pupa. If it’s any consolation, she’s very torn up about this and is practically inconsolable. If K-P1 was never released then you would have lived a normal life as a normal human. The enzymes in his saliva activated your body’s rapid regeneration response and now that it has been activated, you can’t go back.”

This was a huge shock to him. Lance had always thought that his mama worked as a cleaning lady for them, and her pay was so good because she had to clean up some semi hazardous chemicals. He didn’t know what was going on. How could his mother do that? Were any of his other siblings involved with this? Did his papa know?

Honerva sighed and headed to the door. “I know this is hard for you, but don’t feel too upset. With any luck we will have K-P1 back in captivity. The field test experiment is over.”

Lance frowned. “Filed test…? Did you let Keith out?” He asked. “Were you the ones that let Keith out and make him think he escaped?!”

Honerva looked over her shoulder at him. Her smile and cold, emotionless eyes chilled Lance to his core. “The higher ups wanted a field test. They wanted to see how K-P1 would react out in the wild and how they would react with the fail safe. You and K-P1 have given us vital data. So thank you Lance, for your contribution to the advancement of the human race.” She left the room.

Lance’s head was spinning. This was too much information to process all at once. His whole life had pretty much been a lie. He was just a small part to the much larger experiment that was Keith. He still didn’t know what Keith’s purpose was meant to be. Was he a weapon? He had to have been with the way he acted. Lance groaned in frustration and clutched his head. His whole mouth was hurting. It was hurting so much that he couldn’t even swallow anymore. For possibly the first time in his life he was pretty sure he was experiencing pain. 

He could smell something sweet.

***

Crawling through air vents sucked, but Keith figured that it was the easiest way to get down to the right level to get Lance. He paused for a moment when he reached the end of the vent. It led to an elevator shaft.

He took a moment to pause and think through this decision. He was back in some place he never expected to be again, and all for Lance. Was this really the best choice to make? He still wanted to go to the island. It felt right to go there, and if he really wanted to, maybe he could have tried his hand at swimming? Was Lance really worth this?

He thought back to the time he had spent with Lance. Sure it might not have meant anything to Lance, hell, he was sure it didn’t mean anything to him, but it meant everything to Keith. All that kindness, and the fact he kept willingly coming back to him… Even warned him about what was going on… Lance was worth it. He’d take Lance out of this place and then to wherever he wanted to go.

Keith managed to push the vent grate off and watched it fall down the void of the elevator shaft. He slowly climbed out and started the long descent down the elevator shaft via the extremely small ladder. It wasn’t difficult for Keith to figure out which floor he needed to go to. He had memorised the scent of his own home. He shivered at that thought. This place, no matter how much he hated it, it was his home It was where he was born, where he was raised… but not where he was going to die.

He forced the elevator doors open and was welcomed by the sterile, white walls. He hated white. He was sick of it. The only acceptable white was the white of bones. He started to walk down the hallways and quickly found a familiar hallway. One he had walked down a dozen times before. The hallway to his room. The room he had lived his entire life in.

He walked to the door and placed his hand on it. So many memories contained in one room. His first steps, his first words, his first beating… Lots of firsts in that room. Hopefully he wouldn’t ever experience more things in there. If he could go back in time he might tell his child self that things will get better one day. He wouldn’t stay in that box forever. He could escape and see the world beyond this place. If he knew that back then it might have made things so much easier for himself growing up.

A horrified gasp made Keith quickly turn around. Some scientist was standing at the end of the hallway. Their eyes locked for a second, and he bolted for it. Keith growled and quickly took chase. The man didn’t get too far before Keith pounced on him. Even in his human form Keith was a formidable foe and easily tore into the man’s back. He had been hunting and killing his food for years. He knew just where to bite and dig to cause the quickest death possible.

He pulled out several vertebrae in the man’s neck with a crunch. He savoured the fresh taste of human blood. It had been a while since he had eaten humans. He had been more concerned with finding a place to live in peace away from humans. But now he had that delicious red liquid running down his throat… He almost couldn’t control himself. He wanted more. More meat. More flesh. More blood.

He took a few more bites out of the man before he heard a woman scream. He looked up to see several of those scientists staring at him in horror. Keith growled at them and his first instinct was to protect his food getting stolen. But that clearly wasn’t what these humans wanted when he felt something graze past his cheek.

He looked over to see a man dressed in that stupid uniform he quickly came to loath. Keith growled at them. He needed to stop seeing them as people that were trying to steal his food. These people stole his food. In fact, they stole something precious from him. They stole Lance and he wanted him back.

Beneath Keit’;s skin he could feel the monster inside just itching to get out. There was no way Keith would deny that side of himself for a second longer. He sprinted towards the man with force. His monster form splittin his skin and bulged out as he ran. There was no human alive that could stand a chance against him when he looked like this. He could really let loose. All he needed to do was point himself in the direction of something moving and he would turn it into a red stain in the hallway.

While this was fun to an extent, Keith still had a mission. He needed to find Lance. Through the smell of human blood he was able to pick up the faint hint of Lance. He growled deeply in his chest and followed that faint scent until it became overwhelming.

It was behind a door. He tried to push it open, but it was some stupid sliding door that was locked tight. He snarled and continued to try and force the door open. He needed to get Lance. After one particularly hard hit there was a small click and the door opened.

Keith quickly ran inside the white room and expected to see Lance, instead he saw a sizable pile of meat in the middle of the room. He frowned slightly and cautiously approached it, sniffing the air as he did so. It smelled just like Lance, but there was too much meat for it to come from one person. Yet it still smelled like Lance… Maybe it was Lance? He’d just have a little taste.

He reached out to grab a piece, but before he could grab some the door behind him slammed shut and the speaker system crackled back to life. It made Keith jump in shock. He quickly went over to the door and tried to force it open, but he couldn’t. It was stuck fast.

 _“Congratulations K-P1.”_ Said Sendak. _“You far exceeded our expectations. As a reward you can eat as much meat as you like. If that’s not enough then we can get you more.”_

A chill ran down Keith’s spine. He was getting a reward? Lance’s flesh was his reward? When he escaped, was it what Sendak wanted? No, he didn’t escape. They had set him free. They had let him out to see what he would do. He had never been free. How much of it was real and how much of it was fake? Had everyone been manipulating him from the beginning? Had Shiro manipulated him into coming back? Was Lance even here?

Was Lance even on his side? Maybe Lance had been a part of this experiment from the start? It might explain why Lance was always so calm. He knew what was going on. Somehow Lance was in on this. He had to be. Once again he’d just been used by everyone else.

 _“What’s wrong?”_ Snarled Sendak over the speakers. _“Not good enough for you? Have you gotten picky after being outside? Do you want to starve?”_

“L… Lance…” Rasped Keith. He hasn’t vocalised more than grunts and growls in his monster form. This was the first time he vocalised anything like this. “Want… Lance…”

There was a long pause before Sendak started laughing. _“Figures. You’re only interested in eating something you kill yourself. You’re a monster, not some kind of scavenger. This kind of food doesn’t even look like food to you, does it? I’ll see what I can do for you.”_

The speakers cut out as Sendak started to bark orders at someone else. Keith felt betrayed and needed to confront Lance about it. If he didn’t like Lance’s answer he doubted that Lance would come back if he completely devoured every part of his body from head to toe. Every part of him would be destroyed and Keith would never open up to anyone ever again.


	14. Running

Lance had no idea what was going on. These people had thrown pants at him and then dragged him out of his room and down the hallway. The whole place smelled like blood and bleach. What the hell was going on. He got shoved into a room and the door slammed shut behind him. He looked around the room and instantly saw the pile of meat. The smell of bloodied, slightly spoiled meat, and something sweet.

He had no idea why he was here, but he eventually saw something in the corner. It was a Keith in his monster form. They had managed to catch him. Lance groaned in frustration and headed over to him. 

“Damn it Keith… I thought you said you were going to run away. I-”

Keith grabbed hold of Lance and pinned him to the ground. He growled at Lance in a dangerous tone. He. Looked. Pissed. Yeah, he was still hungry, but he was still pissed. Lance was quickly becoming scared and confused. Keith was shaking slightly above him and glaring at him. His eyes looked kind of watery.

“... Keith?”

“H-how long?” Rumbled Keith.

Lance was stunned into silence for a few seconds. He had never heard Keith speak while he was in this monstrous form. He didn’t think he was capable of such a feat. Like, he didn't have lips to form most sounds to make words, but here he was. He was growling out words and looked like he was crying.

“W-what are you talking about?” Asked Lance.

There was a brief pause and Keith sat back. His body made a series of painful popping and squelching noises as the soft exterior that covered his body was forced back inside himself. When Keith looked human again, he still looked pissed off at him and like he was going to cry. In fact, he was.

“How long have you been a part of this?” He growled. “It explains why you were always so calm around me. You knew you wouldn’t die. You’ve been using me. You’re working with Sendak and everyone else! You’ve all lied to me!”

Lance’s eyes went wide with fear. He didn’t know what Sendak had been telling Keith, but whatever he had told him seemed to have broken him to some extent. Now he was ranting that this was all some kind of grand conspiracy against him. Granted, he couldn’t really blame him for being paranoid, but still! Lance had nothing to do with this.

“Did you tell them everything I talked to you about?” Asked Keith as tears were streaming down his face. “I bet they are going through it with a fine toothed comb! I opened up to you! I’ve talked more to you in the time I’ve known you than I have talked to anyone my whole life! But humans are all the same! It doesn’t matter that you can heal yourself! You’re still human and you hate me! You all hate me and want me to suffer! I made you as comfortable as I could when I fed off of you! I always asked permission before I ate you! I fed you!”

“... You’re not the only one suffering!” Snapped Lance. “Yeah, I can’t feel pain, and I don’t know if I ever will, but just like you, I’ve been an experiment my whole life! I only just found out that my mama gave me up for this shit! I got fucking captured! They have been cutting into my legs so many times over the past few days the muscles in my legs are starting to grow back weird! Look!” Lance pulled his pants leg up and showed Keith his leg. It was clear to see that the muscles were slightly warmed under his skin.

“...” It made Keith take pause for a moment as he looked between Lance’s leg and the pile of meat in the center of the room. He seemed to understand that Lance wasn’t giving himself up willingly to these people.

“And for the first time in forever, my mouth hurts and I can’t stop drooling!” Snapped Lance. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I have no idea what the fuck is going on anymore! But now we’re both fucking stuck here, and I’m pretty sure that Sendak guy has me in here so you can eat me!” He sat on the ground and turned away from Keith. “Just fucking hurry up and eat me…”

He expected Keith to bite him or rip into him to take out his frustrations. He wouldn’t blame him. Lance felt nothing. No pain at all. He could literally either be used by Keith as food or a punching bag at this point and it wouldn’t matter. As far as he was concerned he didn’t really have much of a life anymore. He was just an experiment.

He felt Keith’s hands on his shoulders and his breath on his neck. Suddenly Keith pulled his head back and licked Lance’s mouth. Lance gasped in shock, which gave Keith the opportunity to shove his tongue inside Lance’s mouth. It wasn’t like he was trying to make out with him, the man was literally licking the inside of his mouth. His tongue was kind of rough and felt weird when he ran it along the roof of his mouth and along his gums.

When he pulled back, Lance was left gasping and staring up at Keith, who was licking his own lips. Lance then punched Keith in the face. “What the fuck are you doing?!”

Keith hissed and recoiled. He rubbed his nose a few times and glared at him. “Venom.”

“... What?”

“Venom. It’s not saliva. It’s venom.”

“... I repeat, what?” Lance didn’t understand what he was saying. Humans didn’t have venom. 

“I… I don’t know.” Said Keith honestly. “It tastes like venom to me… You’re stressed and you’re producing venom when you’re stressed. I think?”

Lance frowned. “I don’t get it… Wait, before you said you fed me? Since when?”

Keith shrugged. “When you came over one time you were hungry and I fed you some of my meat…” He gestured down at his arm. “I bit off some chunks of my flesh and fed it to you… You seemed receptive to it and you weren’t hungry anymore… I didn’t see a problem with it since I eat you all the time… I’m sorry.” Keith sat in a corner and looked conflicted.

Lance sighed and sat next to him, leaning against his shoulder. “... I can tell you’re hungry too. I can still smell that you’re hungry.”

Keith gestured to the pile of meat in the middle of the room. “I still have that…”

“Yeah… How did they catch you?” Asked Lance.

Keith glanced up at the camera for a moment before he wrapped his arm around Lance’s shoulder and pulled him close. He whispered quietly to him. “I don’t know if they can hear us right now, but I know they are always watching and listening… I was told that you were here and I wanted to get you out.”

“You wanted to get me out? Why?”

“... You didn’t grow up here. You don’t deserve to be here… I’m sorry.” He said quietly. “You… you really aren’t one of them, are you?”

Lance shook his head. “No. I’m not… I… I was made to slow you down if you escaped.” He said quietly. “I think… I think I was made to be attracted to you or something, and my body was made to taste really good to you and flood you with endorphins so you wouldn’t transform into that purple looking monster thing.”

“... That sounds about right.” Muttered Keith. “They made me think I escaped to see what I would do.” They gestured to the meat. “That was meant to be my reward… For doing what I did… I’m sorry… I really thought I had... I thought I was free…” Keith started to cry again. He was ugly crying this time.

Lance could feel his heart breaking. Everything that Keith had done was so he could be free. He hurt and murdered a lot of people to get out of here. He had started to turn that awful little hunting shack into a place that seemed like it could be a real home for him. It made him smile a little at the thought of Keith having a little home.

He gently cupped Keith’s face and wiped away some of his tears. “It’s okay Keith… I mean, I thought I was free my whole life, but I was pretty much destined to end up here you know?”

“Yeah… I-I guess…”

Suddenly the radio crackled on and Sendak’s voice filled the room. _“Are you going to eat him or what?”_ He growled. _“You got live meat like you wanted. If you’re not going to eat him then we’ll take him away.”_

Keith’s grip on Lance tightened. He looked at Lance in an almost regretful way. “If… If I do it slowly they might let us stay together for a little longer.”

“It’s okay.” Said Lance quietly. “Take your time.”

Keith smiled a little and lightly bit into Lance’s shoulder. This would give them some time. They needed to figure out a way to get the hell out of there. Lance had no idea what to do. He needed to think of something. Anything.

***

Sendak had found this whole interacting very interesting. He had expected K-P1 to just eat that human. Instead they yelled and talked and… And they seemed to be affectionate. Which he didn’t expect. It was odd. He hadn’t seen K-P1 ever show this level of affection to anyone before. Closest thing was remorse for eating Shiro’s arm. He was still pissed that the monster didn’t eat all of Shiro.

“Pissed you didn’t get a blood bath?” Asked Honerva in a smug tone.

Sendak rolled his eyes. “I would have thought that they would have ripped into him. He looked pissed off before. K-P2 actually spoke… And now it’s eating while it’s in its K-P1 form? I don’t like it.”

“Always one for blood and guts.” Honerva continued to observe the monitors and took some notes on Lance. “... Okay, I think K-P1 has been fed enough. They need to get moved into their own rooms… Maybe Lance can be moved into K-P1’s old feeding room while K-P1 gets moved to his room. Who are you going to send down to get them out?”

Sendak thought for a moment. “... Fuck it. I’ll do it. Been a while since I’ve had some one on one time with the little monster. Fucking thing shits itself every time it sees me anyway.”

He left the monitoring room and headed down to where K-P1 was feeding. Out of all the people that the monster knew, Sendak knew that he would never raise a claw against him. He made sure to strike them when they were younger. Beat them. Condition them to believe that no matter what he did or where he went, that Sendak would always be the one that he would never be able to oppose. 

He had seen the way the little monster salivated when he went in and attempted to bite him. A valiant attempt, but after getting slammed against the wall and punched in the face, K-P1 never tried to attack Sendak, or anyone in the facility again. Especially when they threatened calling Sendak in. It was amusing to see K-P1 going from aggressive to cowardly in a matter of seconds. 

He unlocked the door and walked inside. K-P1 and Lance looked at him with surprise, but K-P1 was the only one that seemed genuinely fearful of his presence. Interestingly enough K-P1 actually tried to put himself between Lance and himself. It was kind of cute how adorable how much K-P1 cared about him taking away his food.

“Get up.” Growled Sendak. “You’ve had enough time to eat. You’re going back to your room now.”

K-P1 looked over at Lance and grabbed their hand. “I… Y-you said I could eat as much as I wanted…”

“Your fault for eating slowly.” Snapped Sendak. “Get up now. You’re going back to your room.”

“What about Lance?” He asked quietly.

“Not my monkey. Not my circus.” Said Sendak. “Move it.” K-P1 was still holding Lance’s hand when he stood up. Both seemed very reluctant to leave the other, and that pissed Sendak off. He grabbed K-P1’s arm and violently yanked him away. He tripped and fell to the floor. “Get up!” Barked Sendak. “Did you think you grew a backbone just from going on a walk outside for a bit? You’re still fucking nothing!” He kicked K-P1 in the stomach.

K-P1 curled up on himself and whimpered. It was pathetic. Sure, this experiment was impressive in many ways, but this was hilarious. Even when he was in his K-P2 form he wouldn’t fight against him.

“Stop it!” Yelled Lance. “You’re hurting him!”

Sendak actually laughed at that. “Excuse me? You’re worried about me hurting him? A monster that has killed humans just to eat them? They ate you? They repeatedly held you down and ate you. Why do you think they deserve mercy?”

“... Keith can’t help it.” Said Lance quietly. “It’s in his nature. He’s not human like-”

“You want a full genetic makeup of this thing?” Asked Sendak as he put his shoe on K-P1’s head. He started to grind his heel down on the monster’s forehead. “He’s 90% insect. Only 10% human. Do you even know what he’s made for? Why he is here? Why we made him? If you want to see something evolve quickly you either use bacteria or viruses to see something evolve so quickly. With this thing, we just need to feed it viruses and bacteria. Once we feed it something infected with something like gastro within an hour his body has made a cure for it and we can make a cure for it. This thing’s body can be infected with thousands of incurable diseases and we can cure them.”

Lance looked confused for a moment, but he was still very concerned about K-P1 being under his foot. Sendak didn’t care and put some more pressure on K-P1’s head. It made the monster gasp and dig his nails into the ground.

“This thing is basically just highly dangerous medical equipment!” Said Sendak. “The last few massive medical breakthroughs in the field of diseases in the past ten years and well off into the future, are all because of this thing.” He stomped his foot down and a crack echoed around the room.

Lance froze. He looked too scared to move. “You’re… You’re literally using him to make vaccines and like, antibiotics?”

“It’s more effective and easier to mass produce than a lot of the current ones.” Said Sendak. “Plus those moronic anti-vaxers can’t say shit because it doesn’t use any of the shit they are scared of. Fuckers should just all die off and so should their fucking kids in my opinion. Nothing but plague rats if you ask me.” He reached down to grab K-P1 by the arm to drag him out.

However Lance got up and tried to push him away. “Don’t touch him!”

Sendak rolled his eyes at the feeble attempt and shoved him up against the wall, pinning him in place with his forearm. “Shut the fuck up and get used to it. This is your fucking reality now. You belong to us now. K-P1 already knows the rules. Learn them quick if you don’t want to get scrapped.” 

“S-scrapped?” Whimpered Lance as he grabbed at Sendak’s arm.

“Yeah, scrapped.” said Sendak with a smirk. “I don’t know if the incinerator’s big enough for a human, but we sure as fuck can find out.” K-P1 groaned slightly as they sat up. “Oh good, you’re still conscious. Now I don’t have to drag your dumb ass back to your ro-”

Lance tightened his grip on Sendak’s arm and sunk his teeth in deep. Blood and saliva was dripping down the man’s wrist and onto the floor. The pain was intense and quickly racing up his arm like fire. He swore and slammed Lance up against the wall. That just made Lance bite harder. Sendak punched him in the stomach to wind him. Lance let him go and fell to the ground, gasping for air.

“You little shit!” Growled Sendak as he held his wrist. “I’ll fucking kill you!” He looked down at his arm. The area around the bite mark was already blistering. Actually, it looked like the flesh was starting to become necrotic? No one told him Lance’s bite was this fucking deadly.

While Sendak was freaking out about his arm, Lance quickly slipped past him and pulled K-P1 to his feet. “We have to go! Now!” The two of them quickly ran out of the room. Sendak probably should have closed the door.

***

Honerva had been monitoring the current events unfold, and couldn’t help but laugh at Sendak. She quickly ordered some people to get down there and amputate his arm. There was no point in saving it. Maybe now the bastard would be a little less cocky? Doubtful, but it was interesting to watch.

Speaking of watching, she was more than happy to watch K-P1 and Lance running hand in hand down the hallway. It intrigued her. Had the two of them developed romantic feelings towards each other due to the trauma they were both facing? Or was this something more recent? She wasn’t sure, but she was thankful that both of them were male. It seems like their worries about potential breeding might have been well founded. What would actually be worrying was if K-P1’s body decided to change and evolve so it became intersex, of he just changed genders entierly.

Well, those were problems for later. What was important now was trying to make sure that K-P1 and Lance didn’t escape. She quickly barked orders for her underlings to lock down areas to try and box them in. They needed to catch the duo before K-P1 changed into K-P2. Also, now they had to worry about Lance’s bite. Why on earth was Lance’s bite deadly now? She didn’t understand this development, but she was keen to find out more. She needed to look through her old notes.

She watched on the monitors as the two of them would quickly tug the other down a hallway or pull them away from danger. These two had to be a couple. She was convinced of this. These two inhuman monsters were together.

“Ma’am, we’ve got the whole place on lock down.” Said one of the security personnel. “What are your orders?”

Honerva thought for a moment. Once again they were at a crossroad. While it was good for them to have both Lance and K-P1 back under their control, she wanted data. Data she couldn’t get organically from having them both in this environment. While she was happy to have Lance here, his relationship with K-P1 was far more interesting.

“... Funnel them to the East wing of the building.” She said calmly.

“But, that’s…”

“Did I stutter?” Asked Honerva. “Just do it.”

“Yes ma’am…”

***

“Shit, which way now?” Asked Lance as he quickly looked around.

Keith shrugged. All the halls looked pretty much the same to him. He couldn’t really pick up much of a scent of anything to indicate a way out either. “Not a fucking clue.”

“How did you get out here the first time?” Asked Lance.

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. How did you know your bite would hurt Sendak?”

“You said it was venom! I was just winging it!”

“Fair enough…” Keith quickly sniffed the air. “... This way.” He and Lance ran towards what felt like the smell of fresh air and freedom. They were back at the elevators. Keith forced the doors open. “Get on my back.”

Lance wasted no time and quickly latched onto Keith’s back for dear life as the monster jumped inside and quickly climbed up the elevator shaft as fast as he could. He wasn’t going to stop trying to escape. Not after Lance pissed Sendak off. Hell, he had no worry about staying there himself, but Lance didn’t belong here. This place wasn’t for Lance. He needed to get him out of there.

Keith wasn’t paying too much attention as to what was happening around him. He was pretty much running on adrenaline at this point. He was just trying to get out of there. He needed to run. Escape. Get out of there.

He stopped running when he felt the cold night air on his skin and grass on his feet and hands. He felt Lance gently patting his shoulder. “Easy there Keith. Take a few deep breaths and calm down. We’re outside.”

After a few moments of deep breathing, Keith sat down and Lance slid off his back. Keith was a little surprised to see that his monster form had burst through once again, but then again he really shouldn’t be surprised of anything these days. He wasn’t sure what Lance wanted to do now. Keith had an idea of where he wanted to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to abandoning Lance to do so. Was there even a place for Lance to go back to.

Lance smiled up at him and put his hand on Keith’s arm. “Are you okay? That Sendak guy really hurt you huh? … I’m sorry you got hurt because of me.”

Keith hummed slightly and lightly bumped his forehead against Lance’s He smelled nice. “Leave.” He muttered. “Leave now…”

“Um, you want me to leave or do we both have to go?” Asked Lance.

“Both.” Said Keith. It was still kind of hard talking in his monster form, but he didn’t want to change back in case they came after them. He walked behind Lance and lightly head butted his back to get him to move forward. Lance took the hint and started walking with him. Keith could kind of hear noises from the facility off in the background, but it was rather far away. Seemed too far away for Lance to worry about it.

As they walked Lance reached out and put his hand on Keith’s arm. “So… I guess we’re stuck together now huh? Like, all that fucked up shit they did to you and the stuff they did to me… I can’t believe it was all for vaccines!”

Keith nodded in agreement. He had always felt that what they had done to him was fucked up, though he wasn’t sure what a vaccine was. Seemed like it was important for human survival whatever it was. He’d ask Lance more about it later.

“It’s just… Okay, say they did find a way to make some living thing that we can take antibodies and stuff from it to make vaccines and medicines, why use a human? Like, why make human-insect hybrids?” Asked Lance. “Like what the fuck? What’s the purpose?”

Keith shrugged. He didn’t question these things. Maybe since he was part human then the vaccinations or whatever they made from his body worked better? He wasn’t sure. He looked up at the sky. It was kind of cloudy. He took a deep breath and changed form back into his human form and stretched.

“I don’t think it really matters at this point.” Said Keith quietly. “I just want to get away from all of it.”

“Yeah, me too… So, can I go with you?” Asked Lance. “I… I honestly don’t think I can go back anymore.”

Keith smiled slightly at him. “Of course… If you want to come with me you can. I… I won’t let them take you back there again.”

“Okay. Where are we going?”

“The island.”

“Island?”

Keith nodded and led Lance down to the lake where the island was in the middle. There were some boats near a small dock. Shiro was waiting for them. He waved slightly. “Hey. Glad you made it.”

“There was a slight problem with Sendak.” Said Keith. “Lance might have killed him.”

“... What?”

“Lance is venomous.”

“... Right.” Shrio sighed and shook his head. “Let’s just get in the boat.” The trio got into the boat and Shiro started to take them to the island.

***

Shiro was kind of hesitant and started having some second thoughts about this. Lance and Keith were… They were surprisingly close to each other. He was pretty sure that Keith and Lance might have had feelings for each other. Keith was resting his hand and Lance’s leg while Lance was resting his head on Keith’s shoulder. They both looked tired, but happy.

“What’s on the island?” Asked Lance. “I thought it was government owned or something?”

“It is.” Said Shiro. “Same people that run the facility that was holding Keith built a place here. This facility on the island is facility A, and facility B is where Keith was born. The facility here has been abandoned due to unstable ground the main building was built on… Then again it was kind of stupid building something on top of a cavern.”

“What were they doing?”

“Researching a closed cave biosphere.” Said Shiro. “There were several species of insect and fungus that only grows in this cave system. It’s the same cave system where Keith’s insect DNA came from… And the fungus that was the basis for the drug you were injected with.”

Lance nodded a little and looked towards the island. “So… Lots of messed up stuff happened here huh? Or at least the start of something bad…”

They eventually got to the island and Keith got out of the boat. He helped Lance out and Shiro couldn’t help notice the way Keith was acting around Lance. There was some kind of attraction between the two, and it was honestly kind of creepy.

Keith seemed happy enough as he pulled Lance along. He seemed really happy, which was both a relief and kind of unnerving. Shiro didn’t have a clue as to what was going on in Keith’s mind, but he seemed really determined to go deeper into the island.

However, Lance stumbled a little and Keith caught him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just tired… I haven’t really eaten much. I think it’s making it harder for my body to heal.”

“It’s okay. We can rest.” Keith looked over at Shiro. “Hey, is there a place to rest here on the island?”

“There are a few staff lodgings not too far from here… The last time I was here they were abandoned, but seemed fine.”

Keith nodded and picked Lance up. The other man didn’t protest as he cuddled into Keith’s chest. The way they were acting, it was definitely more like lovers than acquaintances, or than friends, or reluctant people that were forced into awkward situations.

Shiro took his phone out and turned on the light so he could see. For a brief moment the light flashed across Lance’s face and Shiro almost jumped in shock. Lance’s eyes were reflective like a cat or some other nocturnal animal. Before he could say anything, Keith spoke up again.

“Which way are the lodgings?” He asked. 

“Um… this way…” Shiro took them down an overgrown pathway. Eventually they got to the lodgings. The facility was only meant to house five full time staff members on the island at all times. Everyone else was meant to come in by boat every day.

They easily got into one room and Keith put Lance on a bed. Lance hummed in approval and bounced on the mattress slightly. “Wow. Much nicer than that small bed back in that hunting shack.”

Keith shrugged and climbed onto the mattress next to him. “Yeah… This is a lot nicer… I like it.”

While the two were talking, Shiro looked around the room. It was small and looked a lot like a hotel room. A rundown motel room, but a motel room non the less. There was a crappy looking couch that Shiro ended up sitting on as he tried to collect his own thoughts. He wanted to know why Keith was so desperate to come here. But he was very well aware that if Keith really wanted to, Keith could kill and eat him.

“Shiro?” Called Keith from the mattress.

He looked over at the two. “Yeah?”

“... If you betray us and get the people from the facility to come here and hurt us… I will kill you.” Warned Keith. Though he seemed a little reluctant to make a death threat.

Shiro just smiled awkwardly at them. “Yeah… I understand.”

Keith nodded and lied down next to Lance. The two of them spoke in hushed whispers, and Shiro didn’t want to listen, but he could still pick up bits and pieces of their conversation.

“Sweet.” Whispered Lance. “You smell sweet, but you’re not hungry?”

“No. Not anymore.” Whispered Keith. “Why? Am I making pheromones again?”

“I don’t know… I’m going through weird changes…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

“It feels like it is.”

“It’s not.”

“... I’ll help you figure it out.” Said Keith quietly. “I’ll take care of you… Like you took care of me.”

“Thank you Keith. I… We should sleep.”

“You sleep. I’ll keep you safe.”

Shiro had no idea what was going to happen on this island, but he felt like whatever was going to happen was going to be incredible. Incredibly morbid, grotesque, and possibly unexplainable, but amazing nonetheless… And he would bear witness to it all.


	15. Island

Early the next morning Keith noticed that Shiro wasn’t there in the room with them. He frowned and looked around outside. Shiro wasn’t too far away. He was looking at a tree with weird objects growing on it. He walked over to him. Shiro seemed to be picking these things off the tree.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

Shiro looked over at him and continued to pick. “Getting food… Keith, are things different with Lance? Like, did he have venom before?”

Keith shrugged. “No. He’s changed since I last saw him. Along with the venom and the muscles in his legs growing oddly, he said that I smell sweet… I apparently only smell sweet when I’m hungry. But I am not hungry now… I don’t get it.”

“I don’t think Lance is human anymore.” Said Shiro calmly.

“Yeah…” Muttered Keith. He figured that there was something different about Lance. His scent had changed slightly. It was still delicious, but smelled a little different. Even when he ate Lance the other night he tasted a little different. Still delicious, but he still liked the taste. It was still Lance. He didn’t really know what was going on with Lance, but he seemed to be okay. “So you’re getting food for the two of you?”

“Yes.” Shiro walked back to the small building with Keith closely tailing him. “So…” He said. “This is your home, huh? You just… You just want to live here?”

Keith thought for a moment. He did feel a lot better now that he was on the island, but there was still a lingering anticipation. There was something else here on the island that he wanted. He wanted to go back to where his ancestors lived. He wanted to go back to the enclosed cave system. He didn’t know why. It was just where he wanted to go.

They got back to the room and Keith gently woke Lance up. “Hey, come on Lance. It’s morning. Time to get up. Shiro has food.”

Lance hummed softly and slowly opened his eyes. They were such a pretty blue. He sat up and stretched. “Food?”

“Yeah, apples.” Shiro dusted off the bedside table and placed a few on there for him. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Lance sat up and ate this apple thing. Keith couldn’t help but watch Lance eat. He hadn’t really seen Lance eat much, so he found it kind of fascinating. Lance didn’t seem to mind and just carded his fingers through Keith’s hair as he ate. Apples smelled sweet. “So, what now?” Asked Lance.

“I’m going to keep exploring the island.” Said Keith. “I want to find a way to get inside the island.”

“Like a cave system?” Asked Lance.

Keith nodded. “Yes. I just… I want to go deep underground. I don’t know why but it feels right… Do you want to stay here and rest some more? You seem a little out of it or something.”

Lance shook his head. “No. I want to go with you.” He rested his head on Keith’s shoulder. “... You still smell sweet. Are you hungry?”

“No, I’m good for now.” Said Keith. He really, really wanted to start exploring the island. There were things he really needed to see. What were those things? He didn’t know, but he needed to see them.

“Then let’s go.” Said Lance. He stood up and stretched. 

“Yeah…” Muttered Shiro. “I’ll um… I’ll show you where I think you want to go…” The trio walked out of the lodgings and walked down a paved path. They passed a few smaller buildings. They were still standing, but most of the glass in the windows had broken. “That was the mess hall over there.” Said Shiro. “Over there was the large equipment maintenance building.”

“How do you know all of this?” Asked Lance. “It sounds like you know this abandoned place pretty well…”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah. I’m a speleologist, specializing mostly in speleomorphology.”

“In english?”

“I study cave systems and how they change over time.” Said Shiro. “That’s why I was first brought in on project Pupa. For the first two months I was given data about the cave system of this island… I was part of a team that came here to collect core samples of fungus and insects before I met Keith… Apparently my dedication to tracking and finding links between the many cave insects caught their attention and helped them to decide my skills would be best if I focused on Keith…”

“So you have a vague idea of where everything is?” Asked Lance. “Will those people come back?”

“More than likely. When they are out of core samples they will come back to collect samples and record any changes that have happened in the cave systems.” Said Shiro. “Shouldn’t happen for another month or so.”

Keith didn’t like the sound of that. But maybe if he hid deep enough in the caves then they wouldn’t find him? Maybe. He just wanted to crawl back into the earth. Just as far away from humans as possible. If humans lived above, then he would live below.

After a few more minutes of walking they came to a large grey building. It looked like a large grey box. A few of the windows were broken like all the others, but it seemed to be in slightly better condition than the other buildings. Keith felt a shiver down his spine when he got close to the building. What he was looking for was in there.

***

Lance didn’t really know how to feel about all of this. He was still processing everything he had just learned in the last few hours. Did this mean that if Keith was born a woman that Rachel would be standing here now? Would she be in this situation instead of him? He shuddered to think that she would be going through this torture.

Also the lingering smell of sweetness was just permeating the air here. At first he thought it was because Keith was hungry, but the smell was coming from all around them. As he looked around he couldn’t help but notice a few small vents that just jutted out of the ground. One of them was quite close to the path that they were walking along.

“What’s that?” He asked as he pointed to it.

Shiro looked at it and shrugged. “An air vent. There are a few placed near where the researchers set up equipment years ago. Why?”

“No reason…” If those vents really did go directly into the caves, then did that mean that Lance was also reacting to Keith’s biological ancestors? Granted he wasn’t becoming placid and compliant when he smelled their pheromones, but still. He seemed to have some kind of reaction to them… Would they have a reaction to him? How big were these insects anyway? He was… Worried.

They entered the building and Lance noted that it was oddly clean. Well, cleaner than what he expected most abandoned buildings to be. Then again Shiro did mention that there were a few people coming here for core samples.

As they walked down the halls a diagram in a room caught Lance’s eye. The door was unlocked, and he doubted that the others would miss him if he was quick. He slipped into the room and looked around. There were a few diagrams around, mostly of coloured insects. Insects that he didn’t recognise.

The diagram looked a little like some insect that was a cross between a praying mantis and a dragonfly… Though it did have several sets of compound yellow eyes on each side of its head. Out of curiosity, Lance looked through some of the drawers. All of them were pretty much empty, but Lance kind of expected it to be like that. The only thing he found in the drawers were a few empty jars, some lids, and pen caps.

But in the very back of a drawer at the very bottom of a cabinet he found a picture frame. Lance took it out and had a look at it. The frame thicker than a standard frame, but that was to be expected when inside the frame was a taxidermied insect. It looked a little different to the diagram poster on the wall. 

It had five sets of compound eyes on each side of its head, dangerous looking pincers, and mantis looking arms. But the lower half, the thorax, looked more like it came from a centipede. It also had moth wings. It was like someone had glued several different insects together. Its carapace was dark purple with flecks of maroon throughout. Under it were two words used to identify what it was.

_spelunca Anthropophagos,_

He had no idea what that meant. Well, he kind of guessed that spelunca might mean cave because spelunking was a thing, and that meant cave exploring. So this thing was a cave something… He still had no idea what that other big word was.

“Lance?”

He turned around to see Keith standing in the doorway. He seemed a little concerned. “What are you doing?”

“I found some stuff.” Lance held up the frame. “I know this is a long shot, but do you know what this is?”

Keith walked over to him and looked at the insect. Shiro followed behind him. He ran his fingers over the glass and shrugged. “Not a clue. Shiro?”

The older man sighed and nodded. “Yeah, this is the cave’s apex predator, and your genetic ancestor, Keith. The spelunca Anthropophagos… or more commonly known at the facility as the cave cannibal. When in its larval stage, depending on their environment they can mutate several times to best suit their surroundings, but once they reach adulthood they are stuck in their physical form forever and can’t mutate and adapt anymore.”

“So I came from that?” Asked Keith quietly. He touched the glass again and seemed to have a fond look on his face. For the first time in his life he was getting answers as to where he came from and what he was. “Can I keep this?” 

“Go ahead.” Said Shiro. “I don’t think anyone knows it’s here anyway.” 

Keith smiled a little and held the frame close to his chest. It was like a precious family photo to him… and in all honesty, it probably was. Keith didn’t have a family. Not when it came with humans, but he might have a family with insects. It made Lance feel kind of sad, but he did like seeing Keith look happy.

“... I’ll leave this here for now though.” Said Keith as he carefully put the frame down on the table, like he was afraid he would break the frame. “Let’s keep looking around.”

The group continued to look around. Lance found a few more papers, but most of them were unreadable or just scraps that had no context. There was nothing to tell him what they were for. It was annoying, but Keith seemed to be becoming more animated as they got deeper and deeper. 

They eventually got to a set of large metal doors. They watched as Keith quickly ran to them and tried to push them open. Obviously it didn’t work. 

“Shiro, open this.” He demanded.

“I can’t.” Said Shiro. “I don’t have the key card to do so… But that is the only entrance into the cave.”

Keith did not seem very pleased to hear that and started to look around the corners and edges of the door to see if there was a way in. “Is there another way into the cave?”

Shiro shook his head. “Sorry, there are a few entrances, but they are only the size of a small animal. You wouldn’t be able to get in.”

“I’ll find a way…” Muttered Keith. “I just have to… Maybe the floor above it? The walls next to it? I have to get in there… I… I have to…” He quickly took off down a hallway to try and find a weak point to break through.

Lance sighed heavily and quickly followed him. “Keith, wait up.” He quickly found Keith in the next room over. He was tapping and hitting the small crack in the plaster next to the wall. He was a little obsessed at this point. “Keith?”

“I… I have to get down there.” He muttered. “You can sense it too right? I have to get down there. Whatever is down there is calling me. It wants me there… It’s trying to bring me home.”

Lance was a little hesitant, but he walked up behind Keith and hugged him. Much to his surprise Keith froze. “It’s okay Keith. You can calm down. We’ll get into the caves soon… You don’t have to worry about it. I swear.”

Keith stayed frozen for a few moments before they sighed and moved away from the wall. “I’m sorry…” He said quietly. “I just… I want to get down there. Something is calling me. I can feel it.”

“Yeah… I think something down there is calling me too…”

That seemed to surprise Keith a little. “Really?”

“Yeah… I’m smelling something sweet and it isn’t you. It’s something else… I think it’s the insects underground.” Said Lance quietly as he rested his forehead against Keith’s shoulder. “Keith… I’m scared…”

Keith put his hands on Lance’s arms and let out a long, slow breath. “I’m scared too… I… I actually feel comfortable here. I want to be here. I actually have a place I want to be and it’s so close and I… I’m scared it won’t work out again.”

“Are you going to try and live underground for the rest of your life?” Asked Lance.

“Possibly.” Muttered Keith. “I… I want to go into the cave… I need to go there…”

“Maybe we should look around the island some more first?” Suggested Lance. “We might find something to help break through a wall?”

“I guess…” Keith turned around in Lance’s arms and stared at him with remorse. “I’m so sorry you have to be here… You don’t deserve it.”

In that moment Lance didn’t really know what came over him. He put his hands on Keith’s cheeks and leaned in and kissed him. Keith froze up again and made a weird squeaking noise. Moments later he closed his eyes and slowly leaned into this kiss. He seemed to be receptive to it and wanted to kiss him back, even if it was just for the sensation of something new. Keith still smelled sweet. But it was different from before. It was nicer and made a warm feeling settle in the pit of Lance’s stomach.

When they pulled back Keith looked mildly confused. Lance just smiled back at him. “Keith, it doesn’t matter. Really. I like you… and if none of this happened then I never would have met you… Do you know about the concept of love, or what it is?”

Keith shook his head. “Not really… I think it means you really, really like something?”

“Well in that case I really, really like you.” Said Lance. “You’re some monster thing, but you’re perfect… I… I really care about you and you really care about me. Right? I can’t imagine myself without you anymore…” He couldn’t help it. He loved this monster. Hell, they were literally made for each other, even if romance wasn’t really on their minds when they created them.

“Same…” Said Keith quietly. “Lance? I feel weird…”

“How? What’s wrong?” Lance was instantly concerned with what was going on with Keith.

“I… I don’t know… I feel warm… and funny.” He said quietly as he pressed his hips against Lance’s thigh. Keith was hard.

“... Remember how I talked to you about sex a little while a go? Not really anything in depth, but yeah?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah… This is a sex thing isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” This was so awkward. He needed to give Keith a crash course in sex and conscent. Which was kind of hard to do when Keith was experimentally humping up against his leg. “Keith, I know it feels good but please stop for a moment.”

Keith whined a little but stopped. Though he did look like he really wanted to get off by humping his leg. “W-why?” He panted. “It… It feels good…”

“I know Keith.” Said Lance quietly. “Do you love me? Only the people you love are the people you should have sex with… And you have to ask them if they want to have sex with you too. That’s really important. Understand?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. I really like you too. Love you… Can we have sex? Does it feel better than this?” He lightly rolled his hips against Lance’s thigh again.

Lance smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Sex feels a a lot better than just humping someone’s thigh.”

“Show me…” Whispered Keith quietly. “I want to know more… Please, I… I want to know more. Teach me… Please…”

***

When the two of them were taking far too long for Shiro’s liking, he went to look for them and took pause when he heard moaning. This was… unexpected. Well, kind expected. He had suspicions that they were a couple. Shiro peeked into the room where the two monsters had run off to. His face went bright red when he saw Keith bent over a desk while Lance was thrusting into him. Keith was moaning as he clawed at the desk and the wall.

Shiro quickly turned around and walked away. He wasn’t going to bother even asking what the hell was going on with them anymore. They could do whatever they want. Shiro didn’t really care. It wasn’t like they could breed or anything… If Keith got pregnant from this he was going to scream.

As he continued to walk through the halls, just far enough away so he wouldn’t have to hear the moaning anymore, he wondered what was going to happen once Keith got into the cave. It had been years since he had been down into the caves. With the rate that the creatures evolve down there, there were probably dozens more new species down there.

He worried about that. He kicked a can and froze. He kicked a can. Why the hell would he kick a can? He picked it up and looked at it. It looked relatively fresh. He picked up the can and tipped it over. A few drops of alcohol fell out of it. It really was fresh. Someone else was on the island.

Shiro started to look around the building to see if there were anymore signs that someone was there. It wasn’t too difficult when he walked up to the second floor. He found more beer cans and bottles. He followed the bottles to a room.

He cautiously entered to see a woman cleaning a gun with several bottles of beer around her. She looked up at him and grimaced. “Who are you?” She asked.

“Takashi Shirogane…”

The woman snorted. “Ah, I see… I’m Krolia Kogane.”

“Keith’s mother…”

“Yeah. I came here to get some more information on how to kill him.” She said calmly. “I failed before, but I’m not going to fail again.”

Shiro froze. “You tried to kill him?”

“Yep. I shot him.” She said calmly. “He flinched slightly and I didn’t shoot him in the face. I just grazed him.” Krolia picked up a can and drank some more. “I was too quick.” She muttered. “Those things… They evolve and adapt extremely quickly. Cut them in half and the part with the brain will quickly turn around and eats its missing half to get enough energy to heal itself… But only the larval stages can do this. Not the adults.”

“... What are you saying?”

“That thing isn’t an adult yet, but he’s close.” She went back to checking her gun. “I know he’s close… Every other hybrid went through a period of mass eating, and then they started to try and head home. If they can’t get home they try to find a dark, damp place before they actually form a real and proper pupa. Once he hatches he can’t evolve anymore. He can die.”

Shiro shuddered. “So you want Keith to pupate so you can kill him?”

Krolia nodded. “Yes. I want to kill him… I want this all to end already… Keith should have never been born. I was a fool applying for this job… Keith’s life has been nothing but suffering. I want to end it quickly… End his suffering.”

“Isn’t that just your guilt talking?”

“Perhaps, but I know Keith is here. Do you really want to try and stop me?” She asked quietly. “I’d rather use all my ammunition on him rather than you.”

“... Are you going to kill Lance too? He’s not exactly human anymore.”

She shrugged. “Lance doesn’t seem to have a taste for human blood. I’m going to have to think about it… Where are those two anyway?”

“Um…”

“... They are fucking aren’t they?”

“Maybe…”

“Another hint that this thing is about to become an adult.” Krolia muttered. “Sudden increased libido.”

“... What if nothing bad happens when Keith pupates?” Asked Shiro. “What then? Are you still going to kill him?”

“I think we have established that I am not a good mother… Hell, I was never a mother. Just an incubator for a monster.” She sighed and drank some more. “You can’t tell them that I am here yet. No good will come of it if you do… I don’t even want anything to do with him until he pupates.”

Shiro wasn’t happy about this at all. He crossed his arms and sight. “Fine… Alright. I won’t mention anything to them. Just clean up your mess. Keith might not notice the beer cans, but Lance will.”

Krolia looked around and frowned. “Fine… You want a way into the caves right? On this floor there is a hole. It’s not big at all. Just the size of a fist, but if Keith wants to, he can open it up and get into the cave that way.”

***

Keith whimpered slightly when Lance pulled out of him. He was shaking. It was all too much for him, but he didn’t regret it. It felt good. Really good. He felt Lance’s arms wrap around him as he moved them both to the floor. Keith sighed contently and cuddled into Lance’s chest. From Keith’s limited understanding about sex he had a question for Lance.

“Lance?”

“Hmm?”

“Does this mean we’re going to have a baby now?”

Lance chuckled slightly and hugged him. “Sorry Keith, but I don’t think we are going to have a baby.”

“What? Why not?” Asked Keith in confusion.

Lance smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “We don’t have the reproductive parts to make a baby… Unless you have some weird stuff going on inside you?”

“... I don’t think so.” Muttered Keith. “I’ve always been called male so I assume that’s what I am…”

“Yeah…” Lance cuddled him some more and kissed his cheek. “Anyway, having sex doesn’t always mean you’ll have a baby. Sex can be just for fun.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Some animals just have sex for fun. Like, humans and dolphins.” Said Lance. “So… Did you have fun?”

Keith nodded and nuzzled Lance’s neck. He smelled good. “Yeah. I had fun. It felt really good… Can we do it again? I want to do it again.”

Lance let out a deep breath. “Later… Possibly when we have a mattress to do it on… Shiro’s probably looking for us… We kind of just ran off…”

“Is sex not something Shiro would approve of?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe? I don’t know… But it’s kind of rude to go and have sex like that… Also, humans in general don’t like watching others have sex. So don’t get any ideas about having sex in front of Shiro.”

Keith nodded and looked around the room. “We should get dressed, right?”

“Yeah. We should.” Lance got up and helped clean the both of them up with some random papers scattered around the place. When they got dressed Keith wanted to keep holding Lance’s hand and touching him. He wanted to kiss him too. Kissing was weird, but nice. Kissing Lance was fun. He wanted to do that more.

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“I want to kiss you.” Said Keith quietly.

Lance smiled and quickly kissed Keith on the cheek. “You like kissing huh?”

“And sex.”

Lance chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and sex. Come on.” The two of them walked out of the room and down the hallway. They came across Shiro who was walking out of a smaller hallway. He was blushing a little when he saw them.

“Um… Hi boys…” He muttered. “Um… You done?”

“... You heard us?” Asked Lance quietly.

Shiro nodded. “Yeah… I did… um… yeah…” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, if you two are um… done… There is a shed outside here. You might be able to get some tools from the shed to find something…”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Said Lance. He smiled and Keith and gently squeezed his hand. “What do you think?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Sounds like a good idea.” Keith was happy that he was getting closer and closer to getting into the cave. Also, he was happy that Lance wanted him and they had sex. Things were turning out pretty well for him for once.


	16. Caves

Life on the island was… interesting. After the little hook up between Lance and Keith the two of them slipped off to presumably keep having sex. Shiro didn’t say a word about it. He was just glad that the two of them were doing something that wasn’t going to end up with them in a giant hole in the ground. Sure they were still looking in the tool to break through the damn wall, but they were both acting like teenagers just discovering what turns them on for the first time.

This just basically meant that they had been on the island for three days because Keith and Lance kept fucking and got side tracked from getting into the cave. Krolia might have been right about the increased libido thing. At least Lance might have told Keith about modesty, since the two of them had been doing it in more secluded parts of the island.

It gave Shiro time to have a proper look around himself. He’d only ever been able to go to the main building when he was on the island. There were a few more fruit trees peppered here and there, so Shiro could still get something to eat. He probably should have thought about bringing more food before coming to the island.

Over one side of the island he found Krolia’s boat. It was a crappy little row boat filled with a few empty and crushed cans. He wouldn’t be surprised if Krolia had cirrhosis of the liver at this point. 

Shiro didn’t know what to do at this point. Krolia wanted to kill Keith. She was planning to kill him once he pupates and becomes an actual adult. He had no idea what would happen when Keith became a proper adult. He shuddered to think about it.

He checked his phone. Adam was a little worried about Shiro not coming home. Shiro had stayed overnight a few times at the facility so he could oversee certain experiments that needed constant supervision, but he could only do that for so long. Also he had so many voicemails from work asking where he was. He even got a personal voicemail from Sendak screaming at him to get his useless ass back to the facility. As it turned out, Lance’s bite didn’t kill him.

**Adam**   
_Morning_   
_Are you going to come home tonight?_

**Shiro**   
_Looks like I might need to stay again. Sorry_

**Adam**   
_Seriously? I need to vent to you about some of the weird shit at work!_   
_Like, the other day some teens found some kind of murder shack._   
_We found so much blood but only small parts of at least two people._   
_But there is definitely more the 2 DNA profiles._

**Shiro**   
_Wow! Do you think there is a serial killer around?_

**Adam**   
_Doubtful, but we are looking into it as a possibility_

**Shiro**   
_Be careful out there Adam_   
_I’ll try to get home soon_   
_I love you_

**Adam**   
_I love you too Takashi_

Shiro sighed and put his phone away. He had a battery charger pack with him, but it was close to running out. He should leave the island soon. He doubted that Keith would want him here for too much longer anyway. Once Keith had fully settled in he would probably try and eat him. Shiro also didn’t want to see Krolia shoot and kill Keith… He didn’t know what would become of Lance either if Keith died.

***

Keith hummed happily as he ran his fingers through Lance’s sweat drenched hair. Okay, it had been the fifth time they had had sex that day. They probably needed to stop this for the day and look for something like a really big hammer to break the wall open… Unfortunately sex was way too appealing at the moment because it was immediate and now. It felt too good. It was one of the few times he actually felt good. He literally couldn’t remember the last time he felt that good in his life.

Lance hummed softly as he lifted himself off of Keith’s hips, both of them moaning at the movement. With a sigh, Lance slumped down next to Keith. He rested his head against Keith’s shoulder. “You have way too much stamina…” Muttered Lance.

“Is that a bad thing?” Asked Keith. 

“No. Just a little tiering.” Muttered Lance. He leaned up and kissed Keith. 

Lance’s kisses were nice. His lips were soft and warm. They were nice to press against his own. He liked kissing more when Lance slipped his tongue into his mouth. Those kisses made him feel warm inside and made heat pool in his pelvis.

His lover sighed a little and looked at their surroundings. They had originally gone out to see if they could find anything useful in the mess hall. They ended up having sex on a table instead. Keith couldn’t help it. Lance smelled nice… And it was weird to say, but Keith wanted to sink deep inside him. Yeah, he could technically rip Lance open and force himself inside Lance that way, but he preferred this. It was nicer. More gentle.

“Hmm, why are you looking at me like that?” Lance muttered.

“Like what?” Asked Keith.

“Like… Like I’m your whole world or something.”

Keith smiled softly at him and lightly nuzzled him. “You’re precious to me… I want to look after the things I think are precious.”

“... You eat me.”

“... Look, I’m trying here.” Muttered Keith. “I think we both know that I am not the best when it comes to social interactions. Like, when have I ever met someone like me?”

“Ah, fair enough… We should probably keep looking for a hammer though.”

Keith hummed a little and continued to run his fingers across Lance’s back. “I guess… But we could just lay here for a bit longer?”

Lance chuckled and kissed him. “Okay. A few more minutes. Then the hammer… And we’re actually getting the hammer this time. No more distractions.”

“Fine. No more distractions.” Keith really wanted to get into the caves, but at the same time he really just wanted to keep having sex with Lance. After feeding off of Lance it was nice to do something he knew was making Lance feel good.

Eventually they got up and headed outside. They got some water from a rainwater tank and cleaned themselves. Once they were clean they went back to looking for a hammer. Lance wanted to find a thing called a sledge hammer to break through the wall, but Keith didn’t know what that was. Any hammer he found Lance said it was too small.

Keith was kind of interested in a weird looking machine that looked like it had a corkscrew at the end. He was pretty sure that Lance called it a drill. He liked it.

“Found one!” Lance dragged a very large, heavy looking hammer out from under some tarps and pipes. “Let’s start breaking a wall.”

Keith smiled and took the hammer from him. “Yeah. Let’s.”

***

Lance watched in amusement as Keith attempted to break down the door with the sledgehammer instead of going to the wall and knocking it down. It took Keith five minutes before he decided it would be smarter to break down a brick wall rather than a huge metal door instead.

He was able to break through in three hits. The overwhelming smell of sweetness almost made Lance’s stomach turn. It took a few more hits before Keith had made a big enough hole for a body to crawl through. Keith tossed the hammer aside and slipped in. He reached out to Keith and smiled.

“Are you coming?” He asked with a kind smile on his face.

So of course Lance took his hand and walked through. It was dark and there were a fair few dust particles in the air. It still smelled sweet. Too sweet. It was making everything else around him seem bitter in comparison. They were standing at the mouth of the cave. It was clear that someone had been in there before them. There was a generator and some kind of locker.

Lance checked the generator and turned it on. It hummed to life and dozens of flood lights sprang to life. It lit up a pathway lined by wooden boards. Lance briefly looked into the locker and found it had several filtration masks and some power looking torches.

“Hey Keith, should we-?” He looked over to see Keith already making his way into the cave. “... Damn it Keith.” Lance quickly followed Keith down into the cave.

The cave air felt stale, heavy, and hot. Still smelled sweet and it was getting stronger. They ducked under a few stalagtites and rounded some stalagmites. Keith was quiet as they walked and quite honestly? It was a little unnerving.

Apart from the smell it seemed like just a normal cave system with nothing weird happening in it. Well, that was what Lance thought until he saw something quickly fly by his face. “Shit! What was that?”

Keith didn’t respond and kept walking. That was mildly annoying, but he looked like he was on a mission of some sort. Something landed on Lance’s shoulder. He jumped a little in shock and flicked it away. It was a slightly smaller version of that weird cave cannibal bug thing that he found in the frame. It didn’t seem very phashed about being swatted away and just zipped back into the depths of the cave.

They got to what looked like a small research site. There were some tables and chairs under a floodlight. Keith paid no mind to it while Lance went to have a look. There was a thick layer of dust on the table and a few post-it notes still stuck there. 

He found one that looked like someone had doodled down the life cycle of the cave cannibal. It went egg, larva, pupa, cave cannibal. There wasn’t much else to go on. He was going to mention it to Keith, but he was already several feet ahead of him.

This was really starting to annoy Lance. He quickly walked over to Keith and spun him around. “Hey! What’s going on?”

Keith seemed surprised to get grabbed like that. “What?”

“You’re just powering through the cave… You’re not listening to me.”

“... Sorry.” Said Keith quietly. “I just… I feel like I need to go deeper into the cave. Like there is something there I need to find. I don’t know how to explain it. I just need to go deeper. Okay?” Lance sighed and let Keith go, but the other quickly laced his fingers with Lance’s. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to ignore you…”

“... Let’s just keep going.” Said Lance. “Let’s try and find the thing you’re after okay?”

Keith smiled and the two of them continued on until they got to a very large looking cavern. This cavern was bursting with life illuminated by the flood lights. Nothing was actually greed per say, since there wasn’t much in the way of natural light. There were lots of mosses and weird looking fungus that seemed to be albino looking in nature. There were a few smaller insects scuttling around the floor, walls, and ceiling trying to avoid the light. 

The whole place smelled extremely sweet. It made Lance’s stomach groan and turn. Lance didn’t know if he wanted to eat something or vomit. Keith just walked through the vegetation and lightly brushed his hands over a few flat rocks.

Lance frowned and looked around too. This place was weird… It seemed a little too advanced for any actual cave system he knew. He heard a weird, wet sound coming from some raised rocks near some odd looking mushrooms. He looked over the edge and saw a small pool of maggots. It looked like a pool of maggots. He watched them for a little while as they squirmed over each other. They kind of looked magenta? Reminded Lance of what Keith looked like in his monster form.

He watched them for a few more minutes before he noticed something kind of disturbing. Some of them were eating each other. But there were also other bug parts in there. This was probably why they were called cave cannibals.

Something dripped down onto the maggoty pool and Lance followed to where the dripping had come from. A little bit above them was a small cluster of bluish grey mushrooms. Some adult cave cannibals were ripping off small pieces of the fungus. As they ate small beads of condensation or some kind of ooze came out of it and dripped into the maggots.

Maybe they laid their babies in places where the fungus would drip stuff onto them for reasons? He wasn’t sure. Lance had never really been good at this kind of stuff. He wasn’t doing too good at biology.

He was about to move away when he noticed that one of the mushrooms seemed to be growing on an insect… It looked like another cave cannibal. These mushrooms were feeding off the insects that were eating them. Weird.

A cave cannibal landed on Lance’s hand and he slowly moved it up to his face to get a better look at it. The insect looked up at him and swayed slowly from left to right. There was an odd smell coming from it that made his mouth water.

Lance suddenly opened his mouth and shoved the bug inside. He bit into it and the whole thing practically exploded in his mouth as he bit into it. For a split second Lance was horrified at his action. What the fuck was wrng with him? However, it actually tasted kind of good? Yeah, actually really good. He hated to say it, but it kind of tasted like tangy custard? Maybe the filling of a key lime pie? But with a very, very crunchy shell. It was kind of nice. But it was still a bug.

Lance quickly spat it out onto the rocks. As soon as it hit the rocks some smaller insects started to swarm it and eat it. It made Lance’s skin crawl. This was perfect. He was starting to eat insects. What else was his weird body going to do now.

He shook his head and looked over at Keith to see what he was doing. He was standing near a cave wall and touching some flat rocks. Lance had no idea what he was doing, but was Keith shaking a little? He seemed to be shaking a little.

“Are you okay there?” Asked Lance.

“I… I don’t feel so good…” Suddenly Keith doubled over and vomited. It was kind of muddy and looked almost flesh-like. It was sticky and kind of thick, just coating everything it touched. 

Lance jumped back in shock. “Keith?! Are you okay?!”

“I don’t know…” Muttered Keith. “I… don’t feel… any better…” He made a weird gurgling sound and vomited again. More of the weird looking flesh stuff.

“Shit… I… I don’t know what to do… Shiro! Should I get Shiro?”

“Yeah… Sounds like a good…” Keith groaned and leaned against a stalagmite and vomited again. “H-hurry.”

“I’ll be back in a moment.” Lance quickly ran back up the path and out of the caves. “SHIRO!” He yelled. “SHIRO! HELP! SHIRO!” he ran outside and screamed for him.

Shiro wasn’t too far away and quickly ran over to him looking panicked. “What happened? What’s going on? Where is Keith?”

“W-we, we got into the caves and Keith started to vomit.” Said Lance. “We have no idea what’s going on. Please help him.”

“... Shit.” Shiro quickly followed Lance back into the cave. He only stopped to grab a flashlight and a filter mask out of the cabinet before he followed Lance down.

When they got back to where Lance left Keith they were met with quite a horrifying sight. Keith had removed his clothes and was kneeling in the middle of his own vomit, but it didn’t look like vomit anymore. It was thicker and looked more like mud now. He was collecting it in his hands and slowly smearing it across his body until it stayed in place.

“... What the hell are you doing?” Asked Lance. “Keith! Stop!”

Keith looked up at Lance and opened his mouth to say something, but instead more vomit tumbled out. He then went about smearing it evenly over his body.

“Oh my god…” Said Shiro. He sounded horrified and almost disgusted, but mostly in fear. “It’s not vomit. He’s making a cocoon. He’s pupating…”


	17. Pop

It took nearly two days, but Keith eventually encased himself in a pupa. It was… It was interesting to say the least. Lance had stayed there by him the whole time. Lance didn’t really know how to feel about this. What on earth was even happening to him? What would he look like when he came out of it?

Lance put his hand on the pupa. It was warm and pulsing slightly under his hand. It was… It was unsettling, but it was okay. As long as he could feel a heartbeat inside that hard purple and red shell then it was okay. Everything was going to be okay. How long was it going to take before Keith emerged? Would he look human? Would he look more like an insect? He didn’t know. But whatever Keith turned into, when he emerged, he would still love him.

“There isn’t anything you can do.” Said Shiro. “Keith is going to stay like this for a while.”

“How long?”

“A few days? Maybe a week? Either way you can’t stay here. There are too many spores and dust here to stay here.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You aren’t going to be fine.” Said Shiro in a firm, but kind tone. “What are you even going to eat down here or drink?”

“I’m fine.” He muttered. “There’s enough to eat here.” Lance gestured around to the fungus and the insects.

“Yeah… Are you sure you should be eating this?” Asked Shiro as he flicked a bug off of Lance’s shoulder.

“I’m fine Shiro. You can just go.” Said Lance calmly. “I want to stay here with Keith… I want to be here when Keith emerges.”

“... At least tell me you’re leaving the cave to find water.”

“... I’ll do that from now on.” He muttered. 

Shiro made a noise that didn’t sound very impressed with Lance’s choices. “Take care of yourself. Please? Keith is not going to be happy if you’re not taking care of yourself. Also I think some of the bugs are eating your legs…”

Lance looked down and brushed them away. They were eating him, but insects had small stomachs. They didn’t bother him much, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to let them eat him. “Fine… I’ll get some fresh air…”

He walked with Shiro out of the caves and out back onto the surface. Lance didn’t like it. It felt too fresh to him. He also felt uneasy being away from Keith. He knew he was pretty much okay. There was no one else on the island apart from them. He hoped that the insects wouldn’t become interested in his pupa and try to eat it.

When they were outside of the building Shiro let out a long sigh. “I’m going back to town.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Look, I’m tired, hungry, and thirsty.” Said Shiro. “It’s almost been a week, but there is seriously not any food on the island… Unless you want to keep eating apples… Also, I miss my boyfriend. He’s pissed I haven’t showed up, and Sendak is probably going to kill me when I go to work.”

“What will you do?”

“I can make up something.” Said Shiro. “You two… Are you two going to be okay here by yourselves?”

Lance nodded. “I think we can manage. No matter what happens Keith and I will be okay if we are together.”

“Yeah… Are you going to go home at some point?”

“I… I don’t have a home to go back to anymore.” Said Lance sadly. “My mama sold me out for this experiment… I don’t know how involved my papa was in all of this, but my mama probably made up something, or lied to the police about me going missing… I don’t know… Either way I’m not even human anymore.”

“Lance, of course you’re human.”

“Shiro, I’m not.” Said Lance. “I heal so fast I can get ripped open and I’ll be fine in a few minutes. I produce venom. I’m not… What they did to me… I’m not human anymore. I’m something else.”

“... I’m sorry Lance.”

“It’s okay.” Said Lance quietly. “I don’t mind. It’s not like I’m alone or anything. I still have Keith.”

“Yeah. You do… I’ll try and come back soon to see how everything is going.”

“Okay. Goodbye Shiro.” 

The older man nodded and started to walk down the path back towards where they left the boat. Once Shiro was out of sight Lance returned to the cave. Back to Keith. It hadn’t changed at all since he had left. He sighed and gently pressed his hand against the pupa. Still warm. Still beating. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long. Lance wanted to see him again.

***

Krolia wasn’t having a good time. She had managed to talk to Shiro when he was alone and away from the others. He confirmed her worst fears, Keith had come back to become an adult. He had pupate. He was going to become an adult and that was extremely troublesome. She wanted to put a bullet in his head the second he emerged, but Lance was there.

She had told Shiro that she could just incapacitate him, but Shiro warned her that Lance was venomous now. If he bit her, then she might die. If she died on this island then she was going to take him with her. She decided the best way to do this was to attack Keith while he was in his pupa. She had a hunting knife and her gun. She had also scrounged around for supplies long before the others had gotten to the island.

Her plan was simple; she’d use the gunpowder in her bullets to make a small explosive, crack open Keith’s pupa with her knife, shove the explosive inside and set it off. If that didn’t work she could crack the rest of the pupa open and let him die from exposure. Without his protective shell he would die.

She just needed Lance to not be there anymore. She needed him away for a few minutes. Just long enough for her to get down there and get to him. He needs to leave. Krolia just needed a few minutes alone to end the madness.

***

When Shiro got back to town he immediately went to see Adam at the station. Adam hugged him tightly when they met up. Adam was kind of mad at them for being away for so long, but he was glad he was back.

“Are you sure you’re not going to do some more overnight work?” Asked Adam.

Shiro smiled and nodded. “Hopefully not for a while… I’m kind of hungry. Want to get a coffee and something to eat?”

Adam looked over at the clock. “... Go to the cafe down the street and get us a table. I’ll be down in five. Okay?”

“Okay.” Shiro quickly kissed him and headed down to the cafe.

When he got them a table he couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. Keith was… He had pupated. He was turning into something else. Would he even look human anymore? What the fuck could Keith even be called? Hell, what the fuck were he and Lance? Neither of them were humans anymore. 

Was leaving them on the island all for the best? Krolia was still there and she wanted to kill Keith outright. He could understand her fear. There had been several times when Shiro had talked to Keith and he said or did things that made him think it might be best if Keith was dead… But the fact that Keith wasn’t human made Shiro give pause. Keith had always just been an animal running on his instincts. If what he did naturally out of his own need to survive was morally wrong, then wasn’t it their fault?

The facility made Keith for stupid, selfish reasons. They always saw Keith as a tool. He wasn’t alive to them. He was just a thing that existed with no real thoughts or feelings, and that was wrong. Keith had his own thoughts and feelings. He wasn’t some heartless monster. He just wanted to be left alone to live his own life… And he cared extremely deeply for Lance, though like most of Keith’s actions, Shiro couldn’t tell if it was of his own free will or because of his animal instincts telling him he needed to find a mate of some kind.

Suddenly his phone rang. Shiro cautiously checked to see who had messaged him, and when he saw the ID, his body filled with dread. This was the last person he wanted to hear from.

**Sendak**   
_As a thanks for all your efforts in making Project Pupa possible, you can have one month paid leave affective immediately._

**Shiro**   
_What are you talking about?_

**Sendak**   
_It was easy enough to track your location through your phone._   
_Sure it was annoying as fuck and took a few days , but hey, you know. These things happen._   
_Anyway, long story short, we are pretty damn sure you only went to the island because the experiments wanted to go there._   
_We’re going to do a sweep of the island_   
_Enjoy your leave_

Shrios stared down at his phone in shock. “Oh shit…”

***

Lance continued to stay by Keith no matter what. He didn’t care if the insects crawled over him and continued to try and eat him. He would be fine. He gently put his hand against Keith’s pupa. It still felt warm. It was comforting. He hummed softly and wiped a little bit of cave dust off of it.

“You doing okay in there Keith?” He asked calmly. “Can you even hear me? … I hope you can hear me… I miss you. It’s lonely now. Shiro needed to go back to town. I don’t think he packed anything he could really survive on… It’s okay though.”

He looked around the cave and frowned. Maybe he should think about bringing a blanket down for himself? Sometimes wind would whistle through the cave and that wasn’t nice. He stood up and shook off a few of the creepy crawlies that decided to crawl all over him. He leaned down and gently kissed the pupa.

“Be back in a few minutes. Okay? Don’t hatch until I come back.” He smiled fondly at the pupa for a few seconds before he left the caves. He’d check the linen cupboards. He stepped out of the main building and squinted a little. It was bright out. What was the time? He didn’t know.

Time and everything seemed irrelevant on the island. Everything was irrelevant apart from Keith. All that Lance wanted was for Keith to be okay. They could take care of each other here. He didn’t care if that just meant they would find a quiet, warm, dry place deep in the cave where Keith would just eat him. It should have been a terrifying thought, but Lance was okay with it. He kind of liked it in a strange way… Maybe he did have a vore fetish?

He sighed and shook his head as he looked through the linen cupboards. Keith hadn’t tried to eat him during sex and the thought of Keith eating him didn’t make him hard. It was hard to explain. It grounded him in a way… And the thought of Keith not eating him gave him goosebumps and gave him anxiety.

Lance blamed his weird DNA on these things. Did the weird stuff they injected him with make him want to get eaten alive? That was really fucked up. But he couldn’t help it. That’s what he was. He wasn’t human anymore. He had to go by instinct. That’s all he had to go by now, but that was okay. Neither he nor Keith knew what they were, but as long as they had each other they could figure it out together.

He eventually found a thin blanket. It was good enough. Lance held it and happily walked out of the door. He immediately saw some people walking a few feet away, and Sendak. He was still alive, though missing an arm. This was bad. If they found him… If they found Keith… Maybe he could distract them? Take them on?

Suddenly a shot rang out and Lance felt something striking his arm. He quickly looked down and saw that he had a bullet hole in his arm. They shot him. They fucking shot him. Lance dropped the blanket and bolted. His heart was hammering in his chest like a drum.

Lance didn’t get far until he got tackled by someone. He attempted to bite them and use his newly acquired venom, but they came prepared this time and they muzzled him. Some awful plastic and metal thing that locked on completely to his head. He tried to pull it off, but it was stuck.

Sendak chuckled and walked over to him. “Nice to see you again, you little shit. Now, how did you get here? Where is K-P1?”

Lance said nothing as he was pulled to his feet. He couldn’t tell them where Keith was. If they knew where Keith was, then who knows what they would do to him? What if they cracked open his pupa and it killed him? They would take him away. Take him back to that place. Keith couldn’t go back there. He just couldn’t. He needed to think of a plan. He really needed one.

Sendak didn’t seem to like this at all. He growled at him and looked like he was ready to punch him. “I won’t ask you again. Where the fuck is he?”

***

When Lance left the cave Krolia seized her chance to slip inside. She took a flashlight and a filter mask from the locker and quickly headed down. It didn’t take her too long to find the small opening where Keith had hidden away. She saw his pupa and felt disgusted when she saw it.

She didn’t know what would be in there or if Keith would even be alive in there. It upset her greatly to see Keith like this. He was so defenslis… It was upsetting to her in a way. She felt bad about what she was about to do, but it needed to be done. Keith’s existence wasn’t natural. It needed to be taken care of.

“I… I’m so sorry Keith.” She muttered as she took out her knife. “Whatever you are now… I’m sorry. You should have never been born.” Krolia walked over to the pupa and ran her hand over it trying to find a seam in it. She dug the knife in and lightly twisted it. The pupa cracked open. It sounded like bones crunching. It sounded awful but it broke through.

She very carefully leavered off a small chunk. Thick slime came off it and she tossed it away. Within a matter of seconds the insects seemed to swarm it and eat the slime. Perfect. If she blew up the pupa then the insects would quickly swarm and eat everything inside. She hoped that Keith wouldn’t be alive after she finished this. She wanted Keith dead, but didn’t want him to suffer. Needless killing was distasteful to her.

Krolia peered inside the pupa and was disgusted to see something that looked like a mass of writhing, squirming, bloody red and purple muscles. She could see things that looked like teeth and bones. She was pretty sure she could see a deformed eye too.

She gulped and carefully took out her handmade explosive. She had found a small test tube and had put the explosive inside. She just needed something to keep the gunpowder dry. She carefully pushed it in and went to light the fuse. 

“... I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve to be born like this… Into this world…” She smiled sadly. “Maybe if something like you can be reborn I can be a good mother to you next time? … You deserved better.” She lit the fuse and quickly left that area.

She just left the area in time to avoid the explosion. It sounded like a loud pop followed by a loud splat. She looked back into the room. The top half of the pupa had been ripped apart and the soupy entrails were decorating everything. Keith was dead. Krolia felt like she should feel relieved, but she kind of felt hollow. She had lived with the fear of this thing for so long, but now… Keith didn’t even put up a fight or try to hurt her.

Krolia sighed and left the cave. If she’d stayed for a few minutes longer she would have noticed something disturbing happening to the bugs. The bugs that took interest in Keith’s flesh were quickly becoming trapped, ensnared and drawn into the flesh. It only increased the biomass that was quickly starting to rapidly expand. Thin flesh tendrils forced into small cracks and crevices in the cave walls as they stretched out more and more looking for more biomass to consume.

***

“H-he’s gone!” Lied Lance. “He just took me here and left. I… I don’t know where Keith went. H-he just…”

Sendak punched him and knocked him to the ground. He then looked at the people that came with him and gestured to Lance. “Pick him up. I bet the little fucker is in the cave.”

The underlings pulled Lance to his legs and marched him back to the main building. Lance had no idea what to do. He needed to think of a plan. He had to help Keith. He had to save him. He just didn’t know how. He shook his head a few times to try and get the mask off, but it clearly wasn’t working. He heard Sendak laugh.

“No fucking way you are going to get that off you little shit.” He said. “That muzzle was made for K-P1 when he got belligerent and didn’t want to follow orders. Only difference is you probably can’t feel the needles that are lined along the jaw. Must be fun being unable to feel pain.”

“... Why can’t you just leave us alone?” Asked Lance quietly as they entered the building. “We just both want to be left alone. We don’t want to hurt anyone. We-”

“K-P1 belongs to us and so do you.” Said Sendak in an annoyed tone. “If it were up to me you’d be getting fed to a meat grinder after you fucking bit me and made me lose my fucking arm!”

Lance flinched a little at his tone. If he ever got this muzzle off his face he was going to bite Sendak in the neck. He needed to get rid of these people before they hurt Keith. He couldn’t let them hurt Keith anymore. Keith needed him. He couldn’t protect himself at the moment. Lance needed to step up and do the same for him.

There was a loud crash from down the hallway and a slightly tipsy looking figure staggered into view. It sure as hell wasn’t Keith. They were female. Who the hell was this person. She staggered closer to them and Lance noticed that they had a gun in one hand and an almost empty bottle of something in her hand.

Sendak seemed to know who she was. “Seriously? You’re here too? And you’re an alcoholic? You really fucked your life up. Huh, Krolia?”

The woman, Krolia, shrugged and leaned against the wall taking another drink from her bottle. “Fuck off Sendak. Just leave me alone… I’m going to go and drown myself in a puddle.”

“Yeah, you go and do that.” Sendak looked between Krolia and Lance for a moment. “So… You seen K-P1 around here anywhere?”

“Hmm, the thing you bastards tricked me into giving birth to? Yeah, I found him. He’s in the caves.” She said.

Lance could feel himself panicking. She just told Sendak Keith was in the caves. How would she know? How did she know they were here? How long were they here for? He didn’t understand. He didn’t know what was going on. He just needed to try and figure out some way to save Keith.

“But there is no point in bringing him back.” Said Krolia. “Well, you can… But bringing back an actual human sized pupa might be hard…”

“He pupated?” Asked Sendak. He quickly became excited. “It actually lived long enough to pupate?”

“Yes, but you might want to get a spatula and a vacuum.” Said Krolia calmly. “I split open his pupa and put him out of his misery. I killed him.”

Lance gasped in shock. Krolia killed him? She killed Keith? How did she do it? When did she do it? Why did he leave him? Why did Lance leave the cave before Keith was finished pupating? Why did this have to happen? What did Krolia do to him? She had a gun, did she shoot him? How many shots did she unload into him? He probably suffered horribly. The thought of Keith being in pain, despite what Keith has done, Lance really did love him. He really loved him.

“The fuck do you mean you killed him?!” Snapped Sendak. “What the fuck happens if you try to kill a Pupa when it’s pupating in the first place?”

There was a loud groaning coming from deep within the building which caused everyone to take pause. One of the pipes for the sprinkler suddenly broke. The pipe fell and it seemed to be full of bloody looking worms. Well, Lance would have considered these things worms if some of them didn’t seem to have teeth, eyes and other fleshy parts attached to them. It was giving off the same smell that Keith did when he was hungry.

Sendak sighed dramatically. “I shouldn’t ask stupid questions…” There was a loud crack as the walls and floor started to give way and more of those worm-like tendris sprung through the cracks and spread like a disease. “Fuck, fall back. I’d rather not talk about this when some man eating asshole is doing this.”

The group seemed to all be in agreement and quickly left the building as quickly as possible. However when they got out of the building the rest of the island didn’t seem much better. The weird worm flesh was quickly spilling out of the cave ventilation pipes in the ground. Some of the flesh had taken over trees completely, giving it the appearance of a tree made of flesh.

Next to Lance, Krolia started laughing. He was surprised to hear her doing so but when he looked at her, she looked completely broken. “Hee hee… I… I gave birth to a monster… Hee… I’ve brought hell upon everyone… Hee… Hee… Hee…” She couldn’t stop laughing.

“And now the bitch is broken!” Snarled Sendak.

The ground started to shift under their feet and quickly broke away, falling into a massive sinkhole. Lance let out a yelp as he fell into the hole. He hit the ground hard and slowly passed out. The last thing he saw before darkness completely over took him was a mass of that swarming flesh slowly moving towards him. It smelled sweet.


	18. Island of flesh

_I’m hungry..._   
_I’m cold..._   
_Where are you? Where did you go?_   
_... I’m scared… I don’t know where you are..._   
_Did you finally leave me? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you..._   
_I’m sorry… Please come back..._   
_I’m hungry._   
_I’m so hungry it hurts. It hurts so badly._   
_Please… Please… We were going to stick together, weren’t we?_   
_You can’t leave me now… Please..._   
_Please… I’m scared._   
_I need you..._   
_..._   
_..._   
_Lance, please..._   
_..._   
_..._   
_I’m hungry..._

***

Sendak managed to make it back to the little pier that he had docked at to actually get on the island. The quickly sprawling flesh had slowed down their expansion several feet before it hit the water, but it had covered and consumed everything in its path. He quickly looked around and counted his losses. Only he, and one of the hired goons had made it out with him. Lance, Krolia, and the other goons had either fallen into the hole that opened up or got consumed by the flesh.

“Fascinating…” Said Honerva as she stepped off the boat. “This looks like an extreme case of that Hell flower. What do you think?”

“I think I want to break out the flamethrowers and roast this bitch.” Hissed Sendak. “This was just a fucking mess.”

“Yeah, how did this happen?” She asked.

“Krolia.” Growled Sendak. “K-P1’s incubator lost her fucking mind, came here, and shot him or something when he pupated.”

“He pupated?” Asked Honerva. She looked stunned. “Oh wow… No wonder this stuff has spread so far… A larva uses as much energy as they physically can when they pupate. After getting damaged he might just be instinctually trying to eat as much as he can to repair himself?”

“I don’t give a fuck right at the moment.” Muttered Sendak. “So what the fuck are you doing standing around here? Call in the big wigs and let them know we need the whole area sectioned off and most importantly-”

“Flamethrowers. I know.” She muttered as she walked back to the boat. “It looks like it’s stopped expanding now though, right?”

“Yeah, for the moment.” Muttered Sendak. He watched Honerva walk back into the boat along with the very shaken hired goon. 

Once they were gone, Sendak walked back over to the squirming flesh. He picked up a stick to poke at it, but the second he did, thin flesh tendrils reached up, wrapped around the organic material, and quickly sucked it in. His scientific mind started to turn. He looked along the shore line and happened to find pieces of plastic and metal bits.

He picked up a metal pipe and poked at the flesh. It didn’t react. So Sendak threw some glass and plastic on the flesh and it did nothing. But when he tossed some dead leaves and a clam onto the flesh it quickly consumed it. So it seemed like it was just consuming bio organic materials. Interesting.

She had to wonder, with this much organic material being consumed the hell flower this was blooming must have been huge. Colossal even. K-P1 probably would have been somewhere deep underground. Probably took up most of the underground too. It would be beautiful to actually see such a thing up close. Hopefully they could get some footage of it before they burn it to the ground.

***

_I’m sorry… I’m so sorry..._   
_I’m hungry..._   
_I’m scared… I’m so scared..._   
_Please… I don’t know what’s happening to me..._   
_..._   
_..._   
_..._   
_I’m sorry..._   
_... It’s too late for me, isn’t it?_   
_I… I’m sorry..._   
_You’re gone, aren’t you? You’re not coming back?_   
_..._   
_Who would come back for me?_   
_I don’t blame you..._   
_I’m sorry..._   
_I want to see you again, at least one more time..._   
_I know I’m selfish… I’m sorry..._   
_I… I’m sorry… I… I love you..._   
_I’m hungry..._   
_I’m so hungry..._

***

Lance reached out and breached the thin film that was keeping him in place. He tumbled out onto the soft ground and started to cough and vomit out a corrosive liquid mixed with his own blood. He quickly sat back and looked at his body. A lot of his flesh and some of his clothes had been eaten away by something acidic, but it was quickly healing already. He reached up and tugged at the muzzle on his face and was pleased to see that the plastic had melted away enough for him to pull it off and toss it aside.

He looked back at the thing he had been encased in. It looked like some kind of fleshy sack that was filled with acid, like a stomach. It made Lance pause as he looked around the hole he now found himself in. The whole place was covered in flesh.

The floor, wall, and ceiling were covered in red, purple, pink flesh. It squirmed and wriggled. It had teeth and claws. It had clouded eyes. It had pulsing blood vessels, random bones, and strange looking organs.

Lance slowly stood up, flinching when he heard squelching beneath his feet. There was no way he was going to get out of this hole. He was trapped. This flesh was Keith, right? It had to have been Keith… Was this because Krolia tried to kill him? He didn’t know what was going on. He put his hand on the wall. It felt warm and soft. It was twitching. Some thin tendrils reached out and tried to pull his hand back in, but gently. He pulled his hand back. There was some resistance, but the tendrils let him go.

“... It’s okay Keith.” Said Lance quietly. “I’m still here.”

Was Keith just some giant flesh monster now? No mind but just the need to consume everything? He didn’t know. Maybe there was some main body somewhere? Back in the caves where he had pupated in the first place? He wasn’t sure, but maybe there was something? He wanted to find it. Find Keith.

He looked around and found a slightly hidden cave and walked through it. It was dark, but Lance didn’t mind. He just wanted to find Keith’s pupa. He shook his head and pinched one of his nostrils shut and snorted out a wad of snot, blood, and possibly bits of partially digested sinis flesh. He did the same with the other nostril. It felt like his nose was finally clear. It was good.

He continued deeper into the cave as he brushed his hand along the wall. He felt kind of comforted just by touching the wall. It was like he was touching Keith, which he kind of was, but still, it made him feel better.

He brushed his fingers up against a bump and felt something pop under his fingers. Lance quickly looked over at it and saw that he seemed to pop a small stomach bag. He has acid on his fingers and bug parts were falling out of the bag in a wet heap. Tendrils reached out and quickly pulled the bug parts back into the wet mass that was the wall. Looking down he noticed that there were more tendrils lightly crawling over his feet. Lance quickly moved his feet and the tendrils quickly receded. 

“It’s okay Keith.” Lance said as he ran his hand against the wall. “I’m still here for you. Don’t worry. I’m here. Don’t be scared.”

He continued deeper into the cave. He felt the humidity quickly starting to build up. It made him feel a little dizzy. About halfway down in the cave his sense of smell slowly started to return. The whole place started to smell sweet. Incredibly, amazingly sweet. It made him drool, and made his stomach growl. It smelled just like the smaller insects that he was eating when he was waiting for Keith.

Lance ran his hand over a strange looking purple organ. Without thinking he sank his fingers into it and gently pulled on it. The organ pulled away without any resistance and it smelled more amazing than anything Lance had ever smelled before. He sank his teeth into it. The organ burst with flavour in his mouth. The juices just slipped down his throat and warmed his stomach. It was amazing. He loved it. It tasted so good. 

By the time Lance realized what he was doing the strange purple organ was gone and Lance felt both shocked and disgusted at himself. He had no idea what the hell this meant. Was this just some part of what he was now? It was so weird. He’d worry about it later. Right now, all that was important was Keith… But he could still smell something so sweet and delicious just up ahead...

***

_I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry._   
_Please… I don’t know what’s happening to me._   
_I feel sick..._   
_I’m hungry..._   
_Please… Please… Please..._   
_I’m so fucking scared..._   
_My body feels so weird… I feel so sick..._   
_I…_   
_I..._   
_I..._   
_My body… Something is wrong..._   
_Something is very, very wrong… I don’t know what’s happening..._   
_Help me… Please..._   
_Please..._   
_Lance..._   
_Save me..._

***

Krolia groaned in pain as she woke up. Her arm was clearly broken. She had been thrown from where she had been standing onto the roof of a nearby building. She had landed badly. She hissed in pain as she held that broken arm.

She looked around at her surroundings and felt the blood drain from her face. The island was covered in flesh. Living, breathing, all consuming flesh. And she caused all of this. She shot Keith and didn’t kill him. She shot him and he just bounced back, consuming everything in his path.

Keith was a monster. A complete and utter monster. She was a stupid woman that let this all happen. She should have never let them do any of this to her. If she had just stuck doing her job she would have never have done any of this. Heck, she might have actually had Keith naturally and had him as a human baby, not whatever the fuck this was.

She was trembling. She wanted to cry. Everything was going to hell. Everything was hell. Krolia hated it. She thought that this would end it all. She didn’t want this. She just wanted to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering, but she had just caused more.

She looked around the rooftop and noticed some of the flesh slowly creeping over the edges towards her. It made Krolia shudder. This was just the end of everything. The end of her. She looked around the rooftop and saw her gun.

Krolia hesitated, and with her working arm she picked it up. She checked the chamber and found that there was still one bullet left. She chalked it up to her drunken state not actually taking out all the bullets for their gunpowder.

“... I… I’m sorry…” She whispered quietly. “I… I’m sorry…” She was scared. After everything that had happened she just wanted it to end. Maybe she was a coward? Maybe she just couldn’t take it anymore? Maybe… Maybe next time Krolia would get it right and be a good mother to Keith?

She pressed the barrel of the gun against her head and pulled the trigger. Her body swayed for a moment before she fell forward and landed in the flesh below. Tendrils quickly reached up and started to consume her body.

***

Honerva patiently waited on the dock for the reinforcements to arrive. It was a little annoying, but these things happened. She wanted to see what this strange flesh had done to the island. She theorised that, like in K-P1’s autopsy, he was going to consume as much flesh as he could, and then create a hell flower. After that he would be reborn completely healed. However, she wasn’t sure what he would be when he emerged. She really wanted to see it.

She looked over at Sendak who was still poking the flesh that had stopped expanding. She did wonder what he was doing, but hopefully this meant that he might get his other arm eaten. She would really enjoy that. Bastard would deserve it.

She took out a pair of binoculars and had a look around the island. As she did so she noticed a few interesting looking little organs popping up around in clusters. It was interesting. Little slimy purple things. They were swelling quite rapidly. If they continued to swell at this rate they might grow to the size of a large pumpkin by nightfall. This is interesting. She wanted to go over and grab one for research purposes, but didn’t want to get eaten alive by the squirming flesh.

“Hmm, I wonder if that is…?” She shook her head and dismissed the thought. That would just be silly, right? There was no way that this would be… Unless… Maybe she could delay the flamethrowers getting here? But for science of course. Those weird organs could be nothing, but then again...

***

Lance continued to walk through the cave system. The humidity was intense and the whole place was heavy with the smell of sweetness that made Lance’s stomach growl. He wanted to eat it. He wanted to eat the walls, but he wanted to find Keith.

He took a few more steps and slipped on something, quickly falling down a small incline and crashing into a rock. At least it was covered in flesh so it was soft. Lance quickly got up and looked around. There was still flesh everywhere with teeth and stuff, but there were oddly shaped organs

They were about the size of a basketball. Lance frowned a little and put his hand on one of them. It was warm and kind of wet. He felt something slowly turning under the organ’s membrane. It was weird. It didn’t smell like any of the other things that made him feel hungry. He wondered what it was and kept walking.

He eventually found a cavern that looked kind of familiar. Ore of those purple looking organs. Lots of them were much bigger than basketballs. There were a few hanging from the walls that probably would have come up to his hip if they were on the floor. 

He tried to walk to where Keith’s pupa was. He could kind of tell where it was since the flesh either pushed the lights or cover them in as little flesh as possible. It was disturbing, but it helped guide Lance to where he needed to go.

Lance quickly found the little side cave where Keith was. Much to his shock the back wall where Keith had been anchored his pupa, was gone. There was a huge hole in the wall where it was before. He peered inside and squinted into the darkness. There was something much larger down there. He could kind of see something that kind of looked like a bud. A flower bud? It was surrounded by more of the weird purple organs.

He had no way of actually knowing what it was, or what was actually in there, but his gut instinct told him what it was. “Keith…”

Lance very carefully climbed into the new area. There was a bit of a dip to get in there. The ground here was a lot softer. He could feel the fleshy tendrils gripping his feet just a little more firmly than before. He actually had to make an effort to pull his feet out of the flesh as he walked closer to the thing that looked like a flower bud.

He reached out and touched it. It kind of felt like skin, but skin stretched thin over thick and rough calcified mass. It still felt warm under his fingers and he could feel a heartbeat, or some kind of pulsation under his finger tips.

He had no proof that this was Keith, but Lance felt that this was Keith. It had to be. This was Keith, he found him. Keith was okay… Even if the pupa he was in was about the size of a bolder now.

Lance let out a relieved sigh and crouched down next to him. “Good… You’re okay. I’m so glad… I’ll stay here until you emerge. I won’t leave again.” He didn’t bother brushing off the tendrils that were starting to snake around his legs. It was fine. He just wanted to be with Keith.


	19. Hatchlings

It didn’t take too long before Honerva’s request for flamethrowers was approved. They still needed to wait for them to actually arrive, and Sendak was already tired of this. He had taken to throwing different pieces of debris that washed up on the shore to see how the flesh would react to it.

As he did that, Honerva took out a pair of binoculars and happily surveyed the surroundings. She was still very much intrigued by the strange swelling organs that just continued to grow. She could see several of them growing in small clusters of about three of four. They kind of looked a little like buds. She really wanted to get her hands on one of those for a sample.

“How long?” Asked Sendak as he walked over to her.

“Hmm?”

“How long until they get here?” Growled Sendak. “Did you tell them they can’t have anything organic on them? No leather shoes. Synthetics only.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She muttered. She focused in on a group of those swelling clusters off close to what might have been building before it got covered in flesh. They looked relatively large and the only things still growing while the flesh had stopped. But why? What was their function? Were they swelling with gasses? It was hard to know. 

Something moved just out of the peripheral vision of the binoculars. She quickly looked over to what might have been moving. It was completely out of focus but it was definitely something alive and slowly walking around. She frowned and quickly adjusted the focus to see what on earth could still be walking around if the flesh.

“How long until they get here?” Snapped Sendak. “You never answered me woman.”

“They will get here when they get here stumpy.” Growled Honerva. “Just sit your ass back down on the boat and take your pain meds if you’re going to act like this.” From there she ignored his glares and finally focused in on the thing that she saw moving in the distance. “Oh… Oh my…”

“What?”

“Here.” She passed him the binoculars. “The gap between the main building and the mess hall.”

Sendak grumbled and looked over to what she was looking at. His expression quickly changed. “Oh… This is… This changes everything… Maybe we can hold back on the flamethrowers for a moment?”

Honerva smirked. “Yeah, I was just thinking that.”

***

Lance was still with Keith’s pupa. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against it. It felt oddly soft, kind of like skin. It was strange. But it was Keith. It had to be Keith. He swallowed thickly and pushed his hand against it. “Keith? Are you in there? Come on Keith… Please open up? Can you hear me? Keith...”

Of course he didn’t get a response, but he hoped that he could get one soon. Maybe this was Keith’s final form? What if Keith was stuck as this giant mass forever? Could Lance live like this forever? Live in a strange cave made out of Keith’s flesh? Yes. Yes he could. If this is what Keith wanted then it was okay. This was what Keith needed.

Something suddenly grabbed his leg and almost made Lance jump out of his skin. Looking down he saw Keith. He was shivering and shaking uncontrollably as crawled along the ground and dug his claws into Lance’s leg to try and stand.

Lance was shocked to say the least, but it was Keith. Keith was back and he looked fully human. “Hey, it’s okay.” Lance quickly brushed some hair out of his face. “Are you okay? You’re safe now. Do you need to eat me? Just go ahead. Here.” He offered his arm to Keith and the man quickly sunk his teeth in. Lance smiled softly as he ran his fingers through Keith’s hair. 

Keith made a few happy sounds. Until he was suddenly yanked back by… another Keith. They were just as disheveled as the first one, though their eyes were bright yellow like they were in his monster form. The two Keith’s were going for each other’s throat and desperately trying to murder and eat each other alive.

Before Lance could question how there could be two Keith’s, a third one jumped from out of nowhere and onto the back of the second one. All three of them were ripping into each other and trying to kill each other. How could there be three of them?

Lance quickly looked around the cavern and, much to his horror, he found his answer. One of the large purple buds slowly unfurled like a flower and a clone copy of Keith fell out. They were conscious enough to catch themselves on the floor, but still ended up expelling a lot of clear viscous fluid from their mouths and nostrils as their lungs struggled to work for the first time. Lance didn’t want to think about it, but it was like abiotic fluid. It was like these copies of Keith were being born… and they seemed to be born with the instinctual need to kill each other. But why?

One of the copies suddenly grabbed his leg and violently dragged him away. Their body looked stuck between being Keith the human and Keith the monster. They sunk their teeth into Lance’s calf and went to rip out a chunk when another Keith tackled them off of Lance and ripped out his throat. The cavern quickly became filled with animalistic grunts, screams and howling as all these clones massacred each other.

Another Keith grabbed Lance and bit into his shoulder before they got ripped off by another Keith and was subsequently murdered. It was then that it clicked for Lance. They were fighting over him. These animalistic, malformed copies were all fighting over him. He was stuck in a lion's den full of monsters that were murdering each other for the right to eat him.

***

Sendak huffed in annoyance as he stood at the dock. From where he was he could see the copies of Keith aimlessly wandering around, only to turn on each other and rip each other apart. Cleaning this mess up was going to be annoying. The logistics of cleaning this up was just that little more difficult now.

Honerva chuckled a little as she watched the horror unfold next to him. “What are you so mad at? Upset that it reproduces asexually? We weren’t even sure it was fertile to begin with.”

“It isn’t asexual.” Argued Sendak. “It went into survival mode and quickly adapted to save itself. When Krolia shot it, it started to rapidly divide its cells and tried to repair itself. It’s like the first time it did this but on a much larger scale… Would it be apt to compare this to some kind of cancer? Just with the way it’s rapidly growing and doing all this weird shit? Most of these things don’t even seem to have a higher brain function rather than walk and attack… So they aren’t actual proper copies of the original.”

Honvera was quiet for a moment as she contemplated this. “Hmm, I guess this is a possibility? His anatomy is a little bit odd considering it is a strange hybrid… Oh well. It happens I guess… It’s almost a bastardization of this thing’s natural life cycle, don’t you think?”

Sendak shrugged. Honerva really loved the sound of her own voice. He was just curious if these things were just a physical copy or if they had K-P1’s memories? He doubted that they could have his memories, but considering the fact that the island was suddenly covered in this monster’s flesh, then anything could have happened really.

As they observed the monsters, Sendak seemed to notice something interesting. Many of these monsters were starting to move inland, when they weren’t busy cannibalizing each other like their insect cousins did in their larval form, of course.

Honerva seemed to notice this too. She smirked. “Interesting… Sendak, have you ever heard of a kodoku?”

“I don’t do moon speak.” Grumbled Sendak.

“Wow, you’re a racist as well as a bastard?” 

“Yep. Anyway, what’s that shit about?”

“It’s a curse that Japanese sorcerers would make.” Said Honerva calmly. “They would mix several insects in a jar and let them kill one another until only one survived. The last one standing would be used to poison someone with a curse. They could also be used to make a lucky charm and give someone wealth, but if the maker of the curse didn’t appease the insect with interest then the insect would devour the one who owns their jar.”

“So the island’s become a kodoku?” Asked Sendak. “... Yeah, maybe it’s time to carpet bomb the place?”

“Let’s let the people with the flamethrowers come in and do some cleaning first.” Said Honerva. “... Do you think the original K-P1 is still alive? Like he is still pupating somewhere like the hell flower before?”

“That is a possibility.” Said Sendak. “But if that is true, then it will be somewhere deep in the caves, where all those clones are heading to… I wonder if they are driven by instinct to go deep underground?”

Honerva shrugged. “Who knows?”

***

_This isn’t right..._   
_I think I’m going to be sick..._   
_..._   
_My stomach hurts..._   
_I don’t know if I’m sick because I’m hungry or if I over ate..._   
_Help?_   
_Please?_   
_... I’m sorry..._   
_My arms hurt..._   
_My legs hurt..._   
_My back hurts..._   
_My everything hurts..._   
_I need to stretch..._   
_..._   
_..._   
_..._   
_Why can’t I move?_   
_Why can’t I just… Move?_   
_..._   
_..._   
_..._   
_I want to move..._   
_I need to move..._   
_... Why can’t I move?_   
_I want to move..._

***

Lance did his best to get away from all these Keith clones by running through the cave system, but these things kept coming for him. They didn’t even look fully like Keith anyway. Many of them were deformed and looked like they were stuck between their human and monster forms. He had no idea what was going on. He just needed to get away from these clones. 

They might have looked like Keith, but they certainly weren’t Keith. They didn’t recognise him when they saw him. No recognition at all beyond the idea that he was food. Lance managed to avoid most attacks, but even if these clones did manage to jump on him they were quickly pulled off by other clones that wanted to eat him instead.

One clone managed to grab him in a tunnel, pushing their arm against his face. It tried to bite into his shoulder. Out of reflex, Lance bit into the clone’s arm. It tasted good. It actually tasted sweet to him. The clone cried out and tried to pull away, but Lance just sunk his teeth in further, ripping out a chunk of it’s arm.

Lance couldn’t help but freeze up at that. He felt sick. The clones tasted like that stuff he had been eating on the walls… These things could feel pain, but they didn’t seem affected by the venom he had. What the hell did this mean for him? What was going on?

Before he could get his thoughts together, Lance got tackled through a wall, just an opening covered by a thick membrane and Lance was back in the hole where he started. Lance groaned and attempted to sit up. But the second he moved he felt hands holding him down. He looked up and saw several of these clones holding him down and eating him.

“... Fuck.” 

They split his belly open like a fish and gutted him. Lance should be terrified but if he was honest he was far past the point of being scared. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe he was just tired? He didn’t know if his body was able to keep up with all the damage that was being done to it. Probably not. He was going to get eaten alive, but at least it didn’t hurt.

Maybe this was how he was going to die? Getting eaten alive by Keith, or at the very least weird Keith clones. He didn’t think this was how his life was ever going to turn out for him, or rather end for him. He kind of wondered what his life would be like if he had never met Keith. He would have gone to community college and gotten a girlfriend or a boyfriend. He’d still be talking with his friends and family...

How long had it been since he had been able to hang out with his friends? He missed them a lot. Maybe he should have told them about Keith? He didn’t know what good that would have done. It wasn’t like his friends would have been able to feed Keith. If Keith got hungry or one of them got a little too close to him then they could have very well lost an arm or a leg.

He suddenly lost the ability to breath. One of the clones had popped his lungs or one of them. It felt like he was drowning in air. Like a fish. If he really was a fish he would have expected to get clubbed in the head before he got gutted.

***

With one final push, Keith managed to push himself out of his pupa. He fell onto the soft floor and quickly shook some of the thick, gel-like mucus off his body. He coughed a few times and blinked a little as his eyes quickly became adjusted to his new surroundings. He was a little surprised to see that the whole place was covered in flesh. More than likely his flesh. He mildly remembered doing something similar when he was younger.

Keith frowned and ran his hands over his body. It was a lot harder than before. Like his body was covered in a shell. Kind of like an insect. He ran his hands over his body to see if he had any extra limbs. Still only two arms and two legs. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair and felt something strange along his scalp. It felt like there were long bumps running flat along his head and down his back. With a little bit of touching two antennas sprung free. Keith ran his fingers along them and found that the ends were extremely fluffy.

He hummed and coughed, trying to see if his vocal cords were working, if he even had vocal cords anymore. “Ah…” He wheezed. “Ah… I… Fuck… Okay… I can talk…” He slowly stood up and almost lost his balance. His limbs were a lot longer than they were before, and he was taller. This would get some getting used to.

He very carefully started to walk out the cave. As he walked through the cave he noticed something strange. He saw creatures, or parts of creatures that looked like him. He saw two of them feasting on a body that looked like his body. They all had his face, well, faces. Many of them looked like they were stuck between his human form and his more monstrous form.

They would look up at Keith, but pay him no mind. They seemed indifferent to his existence, and although Keith was curious about them, they weren’t something he really cared for. They were kind of insignificant to him.

He approached them, and they backed away enough to show that they were going to offer Keith their food, which was technically his own flesh. Keith was a little hesitant, but he grabbed a handful of soft flesh and ate it. It wasn’t that good. It was okay, but Lance’s flesh was better.

Speaking of Lance, where was he? He wasn’t back at his pupa. He had to be somewhere here… Was he covered in the flesh somewhere in the cave? He needed to find him. Keith left the other coped alone and started walking through a smaller cave. His antenna brushed against the walls and he instantly felt a shiver down his spine. He could feel the vibrations of everything in the cave. There was a lot of movement up ahead.

Keith quickly moved towards the source of the vibration. What he found was a small mass of Keith clones were eating something. Judging from their previous actions they were probably eating each other. They all seemed to be extremely ravenous. Was he this hungry when he was younger?

He was about to leave and look for Lance elsewhere when one of his clones quickly pulled their head back. A tanned finger flew through the air. It made Keith freeze in horror. He made a high pitched clicking noise and quickly ran forward to the mass. The sound seemed to catch the attention. Some of them managed to scramble away in time, but Keith managed to sink his claws into a few and splattered them across the floor.

Lance was there and he seemed extremely chewed up. He kind of looked like how he did when they first met and Keith just quickly ate him before running away. His body was very, very slowly healing, but it was very slowly. 

“Lance…” Keith knelt down next to him and pulled most of what remained of Lance onto his lap. He’d keep Lance safe while he healed, like he assumed Lance had done for him when he was pupating. He brushed some of the tendrils away from Lance’s body when they tried to snake up and cling to Lance’s body.

Anytime one of those clones got a little too close to them Keith would make more of those aggressive clicking noises. His clones seemed to be scared of him when he made those sounds. Eventually, even though they still seemed very interested in Lance, they went back to attacking and eating each other. Some of them even started to eat the walls, easily peeling it back to reveal the rock wall underneath.

Keith sighed and ran his fingers through Lance’s bloody hair. “It’s okay.” He said quietly. “Just give it some time… You’ll be fine.” He pulled his hand back and looked down at the blood on his hand. It was blue.


	20. Final evolution

Lance slowly opened his eyes. His chest felt heavy and over all he just felt lethargic. He felt something smooth and warm touching his face. Lance reached up and touched it just as his vision came back into full focus. Looking down at him was some kind of purple insect thing with big, bright yellow eyes.

Lance quickly jumped up, or at least he tried to. As soon as he tried to move, the yellow eyed insect above him quickly grabbed them and held them tightly. “Lance…” They said quietly. “It’s okay. It’s me. Keith.”

It sure did sound like him. Lance hesitantly looked up at him. Now that he wasn’t in a panic, this giant insect did look a lot like Keith. It even had the same stupid mullet as Keith did too. He reached up and touched Keith’s face. He didn’t have soft skin anymore, it had hardened, like a proper insect carapace. He even had antenna on his head. Looking over Keith’s body he even had an abdomen like an insect too that extended past his legs.

“... Is it really you?” Asked Lance.

Keith nodded. “Yeah… I emerged from my pupa and um… Well this happened. I found you getting eaten alive by them.” He gestured to some of the Keith clones that were either watching them curiously or eating each other.

“Right… Those things…”

“Yeah… But what happened to your body?” Asked Keith. “You look different too.”

“Huh?” Lance looked down at himself and was shocked to see that large patches of his skin didn’t seem to be made of flesh anymore. His skin looked like it was covered in patches in bluish grey lichen with smooth bumps of bright blue. The whole thing was flat and kind of flaky. Just like how it might look on a tree. It took up most of his chest and stomach, though there were patches on his arms and legs.

He very carefully picked at the edge of some of it and peeled it away. It peeled off like a sheet of paper. Hell, it felt as thin as tissue paper and one could easily see through it. Keith reached out and grabbed it from his hand, quickly eating it. He made a surprised, but happy sound.

“What?” Asked Lance.

“It tastes better than meat.” Said Keith. “Meat is nice, but whatever this is tastes so much better.” He lifted Lance’s arm to his mouth to lick at one of the patches. Instead of just opening his mouth, his lower jaw swinged open and some weird looking tendrils with rough looking tips reached out and ran along his arm, carefully peeling away a few layers of the fungus-like structure. He seemed very pleased with himself. “Yeah, so much better than meat.”

“... So this is what you want to eat now?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Maybe I ate enough meat when I was younger?”

“Maybe.” Said Lance as he slowly moved his arm out of Keith’s grip. “Some insects change their diets between their different life stages. Like, some species of wasp only eat meat in their larval stage, but when they become adults they only nectar.”

“Huh… Alright.” Keith stood up and helped Lance to his feet. “Maybe we should go back to the cave now? Like, were I made my pupa.”

“... Might not be such a good idea.” Said Lance. “Sendak’s on the island.”

Keith looked shocked. “What? I thought you killed him?”

“Apparently not.” Said Lance. “Just hurt him enough for his arm to be amputated… Krolia is here too.”

“... My mum?” Keith’s antenna drooped slightly. “She must still want to kill me…”

“Forget about her for the moment. Sendak is more dangerous.” Said Lance. “What do you think they will do to us now? You look like an insect and I’m some kind of lichen, human hybrid. We’re more fucked than we were before.”

Keith looked a little conflicted. “... Then we should try and get off the island… I… I don’t know where to go if we leave the island…”

Lance held his hands and gently squeezed. “It’s okay… We just need a cave right? Kind of dry and warm, right?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Something like that…”

“... I have an idea. We just need to get off the island.”

“Okay.” Keith looked up. The sun was starting to set. “Yeah… I don’t know if we can climb out of here… Follow me. I think it might know a way out…” He held Lance’s hand and the two of them started to walk back through the cave system. The clones did try and grab at Lance a few times, but when they did, Keith made a clicking noise and they backed away.

Eventually, the two of them somehow managed to make their way back to the surface through the cave entrance in the main building. It was interesting to see the last few rays of light dancing against the flesh.

As they walked along, Lance started to cough to clear his throat. He coughed up a gross looking snotball that looked kind of black and blue. He frowned and smeared it against the flesh wall. Much to his surprise it seemed to spread out and kind of looked like the lichen that was now part of his body. Could he spread this fungus? Could he possibly produce spores? That thought made him shudder a little.

Keith continued to tug on his hand and the two of them got out of the building. It was kind of nice to be out of the hole. Now they just had to try and figure out how to get off the island. If all else failed they could probably push over a tree and kick their way back to the mainland. That was if they could find a tree that wasn’t covered in flesh.

As they walked around Lance couldn’t help but notice that there were a few dried out patches of flesh here and there. They looked dry and scaly. Kind of gross. Keith stepped in a patch and it was like stepping in a puddle of chalk powder.

“What the hell?” He muttered.

“What?” Asked Keith.

“What’s happening to this flesh stuff?”

Keith looked around and shrugged. “Um… I don’t know… I guess since I made this and I don’t need it to survive anymore it’s dying? Don’t know…”

“What’s going to happen to your clone things?”

Keith shrugged again. “I honestly don’t know… Those things are… I guess they are me, but not me? I have no idea… I don’t think they are all there in the head anyway. I think they are more like the insect part of me, not the human part. They don’t talk, they just want to eat meat. Even if it’s each other. All they want is meat.”

“I guess…” 

They continued to look for a way off the island when they came across a few of those weird stomach pod things. Like the one Lance was stuck in, but these people didn’t have regenerative abilities like him. He saw some birds, maybe one or two of those goons, but one of them was wearing civilian clothes. It looked like it might have been Krolia.

“Oh…” He said quietly.

“What are you looking at?” Asked Keith. He looked down at Krolia and frowned. “Who is that?”

“... I think that’s your mama.”

“Oh… My mama… She’s dead…”

“I’m sorry Keith…” Said Lance quietly. “I know that you guys didn’t get along well… She kind of shot you in the face…”

“Yeah… I still wanted to know her.” Said Keith quietly. “Maybe it would have helped me know what parts of me are human and what parts are… not… We should keep looking.”

Lance held his hand and gently squeezed. “I’m sorry… Maybe Krolia had a boat somewhere or… Am I the only one that smells barbeque?”

Keith sniffed the air and frowned. “You mean the burning meat smell? Yeah. I can… I don’t like it…” They gently pulled Lance away from the burning smell and they kept looking. Eventually they actually found a little metal rowboat with several bottles and cans in it. They pushed it into the water and they silently started to paddle away from the island as the burning smell slowly became more intense.

***

The flamethrowers had arrived and were currently burning away everything on the island. Orders were simple; if it moved or made of flesh, burn it. It didn’t matter if it was the fleshy growth or the clones. They were all going to die. Howls and screams filled the air along with the sizzling and popping fatty flesh.

Honerva sighed as she watched it all burn. The higher ups had decided that the project was a complete failure and had given the order to clean up. Both of their divisions would be dissolved and workers were going to be redistributed around at different facilities around the country. It was a sad day, but these things happened.

“Well this sucks…” She muttered.

“Fuck off Honerva.” Spat Sendak. “I lost a fucking arm because of this shit! It’s fucking bullshit! They just gave us notice half an hour ago! This is fucking bullshit! I’m so fucking mad right now!”

“Go and stomp on some charred bodies.” Muttered Honerva. She was just as angry as Sendak was. She wanted some live specimens for her work, but no, she wasn’t getting anything. All their hard work was going down the drain. Hell, it had gone down the drain. Burning all this flesh was going to take a long, long time… A few days… This was going to take a while.

***

After spending some time with Adam, Shiro managed to get away with him for a few minutes under the impression he was heading to the grocery store for a bit to grab something. He managed to get close to the island when he started to smell burning. It kind of smelled like barbecue.

He didn’t go straight to the island along the main pathway, if he did then if there was anyone from the facility on the way there they wouldn’t be able to turn him back. He didn’t mind taking the long way. He could see smoke billowing through the air. He became nervous. They had to have been burning the island. What did that mean for Lance and Keith? Why the hell did everything smell like barbecue?

Off in the distance he saw something quickly slipping into the underbrush. It made Shiro take pause. He quickly followed them. He heard something coughing. Shiro easily found them and froze in horror. There was a giant purple insect standing there, holding the hand of someone that looked like they were covered in fungus. It took Shiro a moment to realize that it was Keith and Lance. They hadn’t spotted him yet.

Keith crouched down and scratched his back. Lance moved behind him and looked like he was helping him scratch his back. Suddenly, Lance got knocked back by a pair of dragonfly-like wings. The two of them seemed a little surprised that Keith had wings. Keith lightly moved his wings and body lifted off the ground a few feet before he fell over and landed flat on his face.

Shiro watched them for a few more minutes before he made his presence known to them. “Keith, Lance.”

The two looked over at him in sock. “Shiro!” Keith quickly went over to him. He was now a head taller than Shiro now. “... It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too. What happened?”

“Krolia tried to kill Keith.” Said Lance quietly. He was staying a fair distance away from Shiro, coughing into his hand every once in a while. “Keith turned into some giant flesh monster things, hatched a bunch of half formed clones that ate each other, me, and the flesh walls. Keith emerged and we got the hell out of there… Oh and apparently I’m not half fungus… And Sendak was there too.”

“Sendak?” Asked Shiro. “... You know, I’m not surprised… What are you going to do now? Where are you going to go? And why are you standing so far away?”

Lance shrugged. “I think I’m making spores. I don’t know what they will do to a normal human so…”

“Yeah, okay. Fair enough… But where are you going?”

“Lance has a plan.” Said Keith.

Lance nodded. “Yeah, we need a large cave system away from people that’s dry and kind of warm or cool… Temperature doesn’t really matter that much. It just needs to be kind of similar to the cave on the island. Just bigger.”

A few ideas of where they could possibly go quickly ran through Shiro’s mind. “Okay… You two need to get out of here… Do you still need to eat a lot of meat, Keith?”

Keith shook his head. “I don’t really like how meat tastes anymore… I like the taste of the fungus that’s growing on Lance better.”

“Okay… You two should go now. Stay out of trouble.”

“We will.” Said Keith. He held Lance’s hand and was about to leave with him, when Lance stopped him. “Lance?”

Lance looked over at Shiro. “Hey… You and my mama work at the same place right? If you see her, can you tell her that… That I’m not mad at her? She did what she had to do… and um… tell her that I’ll miss everyone, but I’m okay?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Both creatures smiled at Shiro for the last time and quickly headed off into the woods as the sun completely set. All was quiet. All Shiro could hear was the sound of crickets, animals scurrying around in the underbrush, and the slight crackling of fire.

***

Project Pupa had been discontinued. All research had been absorbed into other divisions of the company. As part of the fallout several people left or were fired. Some of the older members of the team decided to take early retirement. Mrs McClain was one of those people. She was compensated well for her research, but she never really was the same.

The story for Lance’s disappearance was that an incident happened at the mental health facility he was staying at, and unfortunately, Lance McClain was officially dead. They had a funeral and everything for him. The McClain family was wrecked and so were Lance’s friends. Mrs McClain was a lot more reserved now that her youngest son was gone forever.

Shiro himself was still with Adam and was still working as a biospeleologist. Though at the moment he was out of the state. He was in Arizona looking at some of the countless, empty mineshafts. He had heard from some of the locals that there was some kind cryptid. Like the Jersey Devil or Mothman. 

He had heard it was stealing animals from homesteads occasionally a spelunker would go missing. He was pretty sure it was all just talk, but he would keep his wits about him as he looked at and catalogued the things that he saw.

He had been through many caves in his months away from Adam, and this was one of the last he had to check. Well, it wasn;t really a cave, just a mineshaft really. He carefully traveled down it, and it wasn’t too long before Shuro started to notice a strange, grey blue fungus growing on the walls. He hadn’t seen something like this before.

As he continued along the linear path he found more and more of that fungus. It seemed to be spreading out, but only in small patches… But then he found a rather large lump covered in this fungus. From its form it looked like some kind of dog? Maybe a coyote? Whatever it was the fungus was thriving off of it. Not that Shiro was surprised in the slightest. Fungus thrived off of eating dead things.

He turned down a particularly dark path and heard a slight buzzing and coughing noise. Something which honestly frightened him a little. Then he saw it. Saw them. Bodies of both animal and human, dead and covered in fungus. Lance coughing ever so slightly as he would pick and and eat his new choice of food, while Keith sat behind him, his wings quickly moving, just enough to dust off the spores that had settled on them.

“Is it good?” Asked Keith.

“Yeah, it’s good.” Said Lance quietly.

“Do I need to hunt more food for you?”

“Not for a few days. I have more than enough to eat.”

Keith hummed happily and wrapped his arms Lance’s waist. He happily nibbled at some of the fungus on his shoulder. “I want to go deeper and explore more… Find a better place to live… It’s a bit cold here at night…”

“Of course.” Said Lance quietly. “We’ll go deeper. It’ll be nice. We’ll find a place better than this.” He coughed and a plume of grey spores spilled out, quickly setteling on everything around them.

Keith patted his back. “You’re making more spores than usual.”

“Can’t help it.” Said Lance. He turned his head and kissed him. “You’re taking good care of me. Of course I’m going to make more spores when I’m in an environment where I’m going to thrive… When I’ve finished eating we’ll go deeper.”

“Okay. I love you Lance.”

“I love you too Keith.”

Shiro very quietly left the mineshaft. So this was the place that Lance took Keith? It wasn’t a bad plan. There were plenty of places for them to hide out here, and they could very safely be together forever.


End file.
